Maximum Ride: Not the Only Special one
by Zebe oreo
Summary: Max and Ella are going to a new school but there's something different about this one. They meet new people, make new friends. I think you know who. Oh and I'm not making Lissa bad but Brigid on the other hand... Rated T because I'm paranoid.FAX/Eggy!:
1. Oh thats cool

**Okay, this is my first Fan fiction story. I'm not even sure If I will even put this up or anything. If you're reading this it obviously means I did but I might not keep updating if nobody likes it and if they do **

**then yay! So basically it's my own fan fiction of MR(duh) not all of them will be here so it will just be: Max, Fang, Iggy, Ella and I think I'll put Nudge but not with Iggy cause I'm and Eggy type of person **

**ha,ha definitely FAX . They all have wings except for Ella duh again she does has some sort of power though. You know what? You're just going to have to read my story to find out what it's all about. **

**Disclaimer for the whole story: I'm definitely not a man so I am not James Patterson so I don't own any of his characters or anything that's a part of his series (sadly) but yeah...On with the show!**

**Maximum Ride: Not the Only Special one**

**Max POV:**

Flying is wonderful. No. Flying is amazing! It's the most amazing thing in the world. Nothing I like better and right now all I could see were clouds endlessly as far as the eye could see. I closed my own eyes and

I could practically feel the wind blowing around my wings, rushing past me. I could feel my self going free just like a bird. Speed would be building up in me then just suddenly burst out and I would be faster

than a bullet. Oh, I could just feel it all now.

But, sadly, that wasn't the case. Right now I was cooped up in a plane with my mother and my sister, Ella, which really isn't a good idea. Now don't get me wrong I love my family. I just really, really hate being in

a plane. It was redundant. It had something to do with being packed into this small flying piece of metal, on its way to Arizona, with a whole bunch of strangers (completely different from me) like a whole bunch

of sardines while suffering from a bad case of claustrophobia! It was insane! I mean right now I could have my own wings spread out and flying over to our new home, _free_, instead of being in this Tin can of

horror. Yes, I would need directions but I could manage anything, flying is easy. Did I mention my great sense of direction and that I have wings? Hm, it's not really something a person would forget to mention.

They really are nice though. Bigger, faster, and better than any bird's that's for sure. They are what makes me, me.

My name is Maximum Ride by the way. Please, just call me Max. Who am I kidding? Call me Max or you will end up on the ground faster than you can cry for your mommy. I'm tougher than I look, too. I've been

taking Tae Kwon Do, a little bit of boxing, and karate ever since I was four. I'm fourteen now so I have quite a bit of experience.

Anyway, before I forget to tell you anything else let me explain to you why I'm stuck in this...let's name it Tin can permanently, when I have my awesome wings on my back. It was all my mom's doing, call her Dr.

Martinez; Ella and me just call her mom. A week ago she woke both of us up saying that she had great news. Big lie, she said that we finally got accepted to a school that she had registered us for since last

month when school started. What? That was something we did not know. She won't even tell us what the school or our neighborhood is like. Mom gave us a few days to pack up, say our goodbyes to our

friends, and told us we would love our new home. Yeah, don't think so. I honorably asked for a map to our new home and offered to flu my self over there so no money would be wasted on a ticket. Mom denied

my noble request and held onto from when we got to the airport until we were on the plane. I think she thought I would fly away (ha, ha) or something. Way to be trusting huh? I can't really blame her I don't

have much trust in people either. That's why I didn't have a lot of friends back home so there weren't many goodbyes. Still, I already miss them. Ella, though, is another story.

Ella is one of those totally, open social people. The whole week she was complaining about leaving her friends, about to end middle school and how she will me so many things blah-Dee-blah-blah. Most of the

plain ride she was still whining. She's never really like that, so this was bad. Of course right now she's fast asleep beside my mom while I'm staring out my window. Ella is mostly really cool apart from all the

complaining that went on. It was one of the few times. Ella, like me, has her own little secret. No wings but it's a secret that might make her as weird as me. She can teleport her self and objects that she

touches. She still has to work on teleporting with people but besides that she's in full control of it. It comes in handy for her when she goes to the mall, wanting to go to different stores when no one is watching.

Let me say something: my sister shops _a lot_. She is the complete fashionista of the family. Something I must live with.

Although we're sisters, Ella and me are completely different. She loves fashion, make up, talking, socializing, and is completely boy crazy. Me? I don't like any of that. Instead of wondering if this guy or that one

likes me or if he's hot. I wonder if he would be a good friend or if I would kick his butt if he came near me cause he's a complete jerk. We look completely different too. Ella looked more like my mom; brownish

skin, black hair, and average person height, stylish and pretty. I, on the other hand, had slightly tanned skin brown eyes, brown hair, am freakishly tall and skinny. To me I look quite plain. Ella and mom say I'm

beautiful but really I have no idea what they're on. And besides my wings, I could heal things. I could heal my self and others. Mend bones, stop bleeding and all that good stuff. It was really something I

thought of or had control over it just...happens. But that's my life story.

So, there I was stuck in a Tin can with my family and a whole lot of strangers wondering where the heck we were off too in Arizona. I didn't have much longer to wait. We were already descending. Ella had

waken up. My mom turned to me.

"You ready?

I nodded relieved that I would finally be let out in the open maybe being able to fly. But, yeah, things don't always go so smoothly for me.

"Oh and Max?" Mom said wearily.

"Yeah?" I asked suspicion rising in my voice.

"You're going to have to ride in the car."

I could almost feel my self go pale.

* * *

After three and a half of the most tormenting hours of my life we finally drove into this secluded neighborhood with just as secluded homes. At least they looked that way. The houses were so separated from

each other. At least ten feet apart. There seemed to be no houses behind each other but then again each was so big that I could have been mistaken. But out of all the houses, ours was the most secluded. We

were about a fourth of a mile away from the closest house, a bit far if you ask me. Finally, mom drove into a driveway that belonged to a huge but cozy looking home. I shot out of the car before my mom even

stopped the car.

I dramatically fell to the ground. "I'm alive! I made it!" I was about to kiss the ground before Ella pulled me to my feet.

"Aw, Max you got your shirt dirty. It was actually a pretty one," Ella scolded me but she giggled. Of course it was, Ella had picked the shirt out.

Mom got out of the car. "Okay girls, we're home. Everything is inside but you still need to pick out your rooms. When you two are all done come down so I can talk to you about you new school. I'll be making

dinner."

"Finally!" Ella squealed and raced inside.

I followed behind her but more slowly not wanting to go inside just yet. When I did get inside I was surprised to see how big it was but the place was so welcoming that I walked in as if I had lived there

forever. I went up the stairs ready to pick out a room. I walked though the hallway peeking into each room, finding out where everything was. There was nothing really special about any room that I could see

so I kept walking. Ella had already chosen her room. Finally, I got to the end of the hallway where I noticed and extra set of small stairs. I followed them up until I reached a door. Slowly I opened the door. My

mouth fell open a little. There were two windows and the walls and ceiling were sky blue with clouds painted on them. I walked further in to investigate. There was a big closet that I knew wouldn't be much use

for clothes seeing as I didn't really have a lot to fill it up. The bedroom had its own bathroom complete with a shower. But the best part was when I opened the twin doors, which reveled a balcony that had the

most amazing view of the whole back yard. Let me tell you, the back was humongous! I looked around and immediately decided this would be a great take off area. In the distance, I saw a lake where I could

faintly see some people. I guess that wasn't just ours.

"Like it?"

Startled, I turned around. "Totally."

Mom smiled. "Yeah, I knew you would. Ella chose the bedroom with the biggest closet."

I laughed. Of course she would.

"Well, hurry unpacking, I have to talk to both of you," She said then left me alone in my room to enjoy it.

* * *

Half an hour later we were all downstairs eating in the living room. We never really had any dining rules except for no food fights. I'm all for that seeing as I eat like a pig and can chow down more food than an

average teen or adult. It's a wonder that I'm not fat or out of shape.

"So, on Monday you're both going to start school," Mom stated. "Tomorrow I'm taking both of you to the mall to pick out some new clothes. That's not up for debate, Max." Ella squealed happily as I sighed. "But

before we do all that I have to you about your new school."

"Finally," Ella and I said in unison. She took a really long time to get to things, didn't she? Jeez.

Mom scowled but continued. "You two will really love this school. You won't feel different from anyone like you did in your other schools. It will be a place where it'll be easy to make friends and fit in-"

"Wait," I cut her off. "Wait, what do you mean we won't be different? Heck, it's impossible to not be different with what we can do. What type of school is this exactly?"

For a split second she looked uneasy but quickly turned to look neutral. "It's a school for kids with special abilities. Grades 8 to 12. I waited until Ella got into eighth grade so you could both enroll together. It will

be nice. They have all regular classes that other schools have but they also have one extra class to help use your abilities and master them."

Ella's eyes lit up and I could feel something inside of me that felt like a flicker of hope and I don't hope a lot. I just let life happen.

"We don't have to hide what we can do?" Ella asked cautiously.

"You can be pretty much open in what you do," Mom answered.

"Will the be able to help me learn how to teleport with people?"

Mom nodded, "They'll try"

Ella and I looked at one another. I liked the idea of being able to be as open about what we could do. They could help me aster my healing ability and maybe during physical education they'd let me fly around

instead of running. This sounded sweet.

"But there is something," Mom cut off my train of thought. "Max, you still need to hide your wings from others."

I shot up from my chair. "What? Why?" Happiness is so not working for me right now.

Mom gave me a stern look. "Max, your wings aren't an ability. They're you, a part of you. I don't want you showing off and abusing them. Flying around school isn't what people do. Nobody at the school can do it

nor do they have wings. Keep them a secret, at least for now." It sounded like there was another reason. I wasn't sure.

For the second time that day my spirits were dampened. Yet, there was something in me that didn't want anyone to know. My wings were my own little secret that I wanted to keep. Maybe if I trusted someone

enough I would show him or her(wasn't likely) but right now ii felt as if I were keeping a dear friend with me forever. It sounds nice if you think about it.

I smirked a little. "Okay."


	2. Claustrophobic sorry!

**Sorry if my story says like, so, dude or something to the effect too much. I'm from Southern California if that makes sense. It's like an accent. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, and Iggy does have his sight. I like him too much to deny him that.**

**Fang P.O.V**

"All I'm saying is that you should just ask one of them out and have the rest just leave you alone," Iggy said walking around The Lake. That's what it's called The Lake. Pretty nice name,better than lake-something-twisted-with-a-whole-lot of I don't know. I'm not good at making up names for things but The Lake seems to fit the neighborhood lake so it's okay.

I skipped a rock from my pile across the water. "Not really into any of them."

Iggy made a frustrated sound. "Oh, come on, Fang. You can't say that," He stopped walking and looked straight at me. "Out of all the girls in our school, you're honestly telling me that none of them appeal to you, in any way?"

"Didn't say that," I replied. I'm a teenager, of course girls are going to "appeal" to me in _some_ way. I rolled my eyes.

Iggy sat down near me on the ledge I was sitting on. "Then why not ask one of them out?" He grabbed a rock from my pile and skipped it across.

"Don't like any of them that way." I frowned. It wasn't that I didn't like any of the girls at all it's just most were annoying." They were usually stuck up about their powers no matter what it was that they did. The girls were too fake in the way they acted and dressed. They a tried a little too hard to get someone's attention.

"What about Lissa?" He asked.

I shrugged, "She's nice."

He gave a cocky grin. "Pretty hot too," He laughed. "Okay, then, what about Brigid?"

"Well she is really pretty," I said thoughtfully. "Really smart, too." Actually, she's amazingly smart. She's only a freshman like us but already taking Pre-Calculus. I did think of asking her out before but I still wasn't sure. "I dunno, Ig. Look in the mirror when you talk, though."

"Yeah, I do but I'm thinking about asking someone more than you if you haven't noticed," He said accusingly. "I'm looking for suitable companions." He grinned.

"I've noticed," I rolled my eyes again. "Switch the subject?" I continued to skip rocks. This was an old conversation that had been going on for quite awhile.

Iggy stood up and continued to walk around. For him, this was a complete improvement. Iggy is usually found making...well making anything at all that could explode. He kept walking around a bit then stopped so suddenly that I thought he was going to have a stroke. "Hey," gave a strange look ahead of him. "Who do you think the new neighbors are?"

I looked up at him with a confused expression crossing over my face. "New neighbors?"

Iggy gazed straight ahead. I turned to look and saw that he was staring at the most secluded house of the neighborhood. The one with the biggest portion of land and that hadn't been lived in for a few years. "Yeah, like, I saw them driving past my house but I caught a glimpse of the girl sitting in the front seat and their mom. Really pretty girl, black hair, looked kind of like her mom too. I didn't really see the other girl's face that was sitting in the back seat, though. She was looking up ward the whole time," He explained. "I think she was looking up at the sky."

_'Who could they be?"_I thought gazing thoughtfully at the house. Then something jolted inside of me. "The sky?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah I think. Not sure."

There was always something that made me tense up when people looked specifically at the sky. The sky was our territory. What if one us were up there? I knew that Iggy wouldn't fly around yesterday, the sky was clear as anything and even the person with the worst eyes sight could see him. He wasn't stupid but still I couldn't help but think if one us were up there, if anyone saw us, they would know. I looked up. There were a few clouds in the sky now. It was a safe sky. I looked at Iggy. "What do you think they can do?"

Iggy had been looked up at the sky as well. "I'm not sure but I kind of feel like taking a flight."

I nodded and we went to the trees that were somewhere beyond The Lake. In the next minute we were off and flying.

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

Long story short, I was woken up on the ungodly hour of eight in the morning so I could be dragged to the mall with mom and Ella. I think they went a bit coo-coo in the head because seriously? Who wakes up at eight o' clock on a S_unday_ morning just to go shopping? Obviously my crazy mother and sister but to take me with them is torture. Actually, they didn't take me the correct term would be "dragged", literally. I almost made it safely back in the house but then Ella used her secret weapon and most ultimate weakness. The Bambi Eyes; guaranteed to get Max to do anything you want! Works 100% percent of the time folks! What a joke. I don't know why it works it just does.

I sure hope this new school helps us fight against our weaknesses if not I'm doomed. Jeez, now I'm starting to sound as if it were a school for super heroes, which I assure you, it is _not._ Mom already explained all of the last night. It's sort of like you know, that school in X-men? Where nobody really knows it exist but it's there? Only it's not a day and night school and we don't have some evil villains trying to capture us to join their 'evil' side so we can all take over the world and leave pathetic none 'super' humans to do our every biding or something weird like that. No, it's just a normal school besides that fact that the students can do some things other people can't. The sad thing is, none of the past or present students knew hot to fly and if they did they definitely didn't have any wings attached to them like I do. It's just another level of weirdness even for that school. That's why I have to keep them a secret. I guess I'm just special that way. My mommy told me.

Anyway, back to the shopping trip. Actually, let's call it half a day of torture trip. That was going quite awfully. The fact that I suffer from the absolute worse case of claustrophobia this world has ever seen didn't exactly help seeing as the mall is packed with over hundreds and hundreds and I don't know how many more people all together. It's a very scary experience, you should try it. Then besides being crammed into a shopping center with a whole lot of other people, Ella kept trying to pick out some clothes for me. From colorful blouses to the shortest skirts I've ever seen. Then when we went to the shoe store she kept throwing spiked heels, flowery sandal, pink flip-flops, and other weird things that could torture my feet. I'm much more comfortable with my own running shoes and black skater type of converse shoes, thank you very much. After the we ended up going to a Victoria's Secret story which, let me tell you, not very comfortable for me.

Finally, after much debate from moi, we now ended up in the food court. I know this may surprise you, because it certainly surprises me, but the Food court isn't the most crowded place in the mall, at least not this one. We went to McDonald's, my choice obviously. Ella doesn't like fatty food. Ptsh, I love it. At the moment I was wolfing down as many fries as I could while I drank a delicious McFlurry. Let us say, Yum?

Ella kept giving me funny looks as she watched me eat.

I munched on two fries before asking, "What?"

"How can you eat all that? How can you eat _like that_ and still be skinny as heck?" She had the most bewildered look on her face.

I shrugged. "High metabolism, I guess." I took some more of my McFlurry. It is Dee-lish-us or did I already say that? Oh, well, I don't pay attention much when I eat. I had a big Mac with me too but that was all gone. Big Macs aren't as big as they claim to be. Too bad because I was hoping for it to fill me up too, oh, well. HM, maybe I should have gotten some more food. Even the McFlurry is starting to disappear. Oh, it seems they have accidentally put a curly fry with my straight fries(no pun intended). Wait! Since when does McDonald's have curly fries? Suspicion in the fast food world is starting to rise in me.

"Max?"

"Huh?" I responded to my name.

"So can I?" Ella had a very expectant look on her face.

I looked at her confusedly. "Can you what?" Oops, I guess I was too focused on my food. Ah, yes that's good old Maximum Ride for ya.

Ella rolled her eyes at me. "Can I pick out at least one or two out fits for you to wear? Please? Just two and maybe a pair of shoes?"

I narrowed my eyes ready to say no but then she did it again. The Bambi Eyes were on and giving the total effect. A frustrated sound escaped me. "Fine!" I snapped without wanting to. I pointed a fry straight at her. "Two outfits and only _one_ pair of shoes. That's it!"

Mom laughed at my bargaining tactics. She usually didn't say much when I was eating artery-clogging type of foods knowing I usually just focus on that then anything. Ella cheered happily and drank the rest of the juice she had gotten. I sighed and quickly finished eating everything I had knowing she wanted to get started right away. The sooner we got this over with the faster we could get out of this place.

After ten minutes of looking for the 'right' clothes I made some new rules that were not to be bended or broken.

"No pink, Ella, no pink at all. Nothing that looks way to fluffy or frilly or any of that stuff, okay? Seriously, you're killing me," I said as she presented me with yet another sparkled, pink blouse. Ella pouted a bit and I could see she was ready to make the face again but I turned my face away. When I turned back she had already put it back.

Ella looked at me thoughtfully. Her eyes immediately brightened. "Oh! I have an idea! Come on let's go!" She grabbed my hand and quickly led me running out of the store. Mom had left us alone to do our own 'thing' and took the rest of the bags with her. We're to be back at the car in half an hour or she's come to hunt us down. As Ella made her way past people, I started thinking why didn't she just teleport her self where ever we were headed. That way she could leave me behind. We didn't stop running until we finally reached a dark looking store with pop music playing in the background. When we stepped inside there was something that I immediately noticed. The store was small, there were a lot of people that appeared to be jammed together, and the space that wasn't all people was covered with racks of clothes. It was a claustrophobic nightmare. My breath started to pick up speed. You could almost feel everyones' body heat. Some people were even dancing. I immediately registered the whole place as a not safe zone. I turned on my heel and bolted faster than lightning out of there. I heard Ella call my name but I didn't care. I was on full freak out moment and all I was thinking was that I needed to leave. Call me overly dramatic but small-enclosed places and me don't really go together.

I ran for dear life dodging people as I went past them, There was something insane in me that was saying to run as fast as my legs could carry me. It was as if some person trying to kill me were chasing me from behind. To be sure that wasn't the case, I turned my head to look back which was a definitely a bad idea. As soon as I turned my head I crashed solidly into someone. Yep, that's smooth move me. This was definitely not my day but I didn't get to contemplate my day's events. I fell to the floor with whatever person I had crashed with landing back first bumping into the plants they put around everywhere. There was a great pain searing through me, coming from my back when I landed. It took everything I had in me to keep from crying out. My wings. I had broken a part of my wing. Closing my eyes, I could feel the immediate healing power I had no control over working solely on the injured part of the wing. Healing that fast isn't what it's all cut out to like you see in the movies. It feels weird and has a sting to it as your cells work a thousand times faster to recover. Yet, it was nothing compared to the pain in my wing if it didn't happen. Completely worth it.

I opened my eyes to see a boy about my age starting to sit up straight. He had olive toned skin, black hair that almost completely covered his eyes, which showed no emotion, he was wearing all black. He would probably what Ella might call really hot. But he also had a very,very bad cut on his neck. I had no idea to know how deep it was but guilt washed over me because he wouldn't havegotten cut if I hadn't bumped into him.

"I'm _so sorry_!" I apologized and impulsively touched his neck. His cut instantly started to heal beneath my hand. His eyes grew wide with surprise. My own grew as I suddenly realized what i had just done. Quickly pulling my hand back, I stood up looking at him in horror. He touched his neck that was mended now and looked up at me seeing his blood on my hand that had come from his now vanished wound. I looked all around and then suddenly everything was registering as danger. Everything seemed so unsafe. I back away slowly then began running away but more cautiously so it wouldn't happen again. Panic was running through my veins. _'He knows now. Crud, He knows now. He knows!'_ The thought kept repeating through my head like an alarm. I had to get away.

* * *

Ella found me sitting outside on a bench. I looked up at her, smiling a little. "Sorry too many people." She nodded and led me back inside. We finally chose the clothes. I didn't tell her what happened. I didn't plan on telling anyone so they could tell me how stupid of mistake that was. But for the rest of the day I couldn't stop thinking about the guy with the dark mysterious eyes.

* * *

**I just realized something. I have never had a McFlurry. Interesting. Review, perhaps?**


	3. Freak High

**I found out the magical wonders of the Traffic tab and just for that reason I felt guilty about not putting up my next chapter so I stayed up till about 2 in the morning to type it into my Internet computer and publish it. So yeah and sorry about grammar/spelling mistakes Open office is going crazy on me. I'm half way done with the next chapter so I'll have that up by later today or Sunday (it will be my birthday) And yeah here we go:)**

**Fang POV**

I came to school earlier than usual. I didn't get much sleep the night before and when I did manage to fall asleep I dreamt about the girl that I had crashed into at the mall. Iggy and me decided to go there so he could go get some things for his latest project. I went on my own and went into my whole camouflage more. It wasn't a good idea because that was when she came running into me. Then again I should have watched where I was going.

It was the strangest thing. One minute I was falling with someone, accidentally getting cut by the stupid plant that was so conveniently there. Then the next minute I was raising my head meeting the most guilt stricken face I had ever seen. But what happened next was the weirdest thing that happened to me and the have been a lot of weird things in my life. The girl placed her hand over my cut and it began to heal faster than lightning strikes the ground. It was incredible! It hurt but it was incredible. When she realized what she was doing she looked terrified, as if I had discovered her deepest secret. Just like that she ran away and then she was gone.

Maybe I had discovered her deepest secret. How many people do you meet in a life time that can do things like that? Did that mean she was like everyone else at this school? Did she go here? I've never seen her before. I certainly remember her anywhere. She had the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. Yeah, they were brown but they were like this rare type of cream-ish type of shade of brown. Then her face, it was so, I'm not sure, but it was beautiful. She was beautiful. Uh, actually, forget I said that. Her hair was a different shade from her eyes and had some streaked type of highlights. They looked natural. But then there was something fierce about her, some confidence and independence that radiated off of her just before she went all alert. There was something else about her but I couldn't place it. Then there was something I noticed about her besides my blood on her hand. Her clothes. She was actually dressed like a normal person. The girl didn't have all these store brand clothing on her like other girls that was obvious. She was just dressed normally. I liked that. Who ever she was I was going to find out because I wasn't letting this slide.

* * *

**Max POV**

Monday, the first day to my career Freak High, how lovely is that? Seeing as everyone at the school has some ultra, super, mutant, type of powers, the name is now Freak High. The real name goes something like Higher Institution for Gifted and Talented Scholars but that's just way too long so let us just stick with Freak High. Shall we?

So far, my morning has gone terribly annoying. First, I woke up later than usual. It was all thanks to my stupid alarm clock. Second, Ella kept trying to pick out my clothes. She succeeded with the help from my traitor of my mother. Third, turns out I can't even make a bowl of cereal. I tripped over the FLAT surface of the kitchen and spilled milk all over the table while at the same time making my cereal scatter. Ella squealed because the milk spilled on her clothes(mine too) and we all had to change into new clothes. I, thankfully, ended up in my normal attire of blue jeans and a clean white T-shirt and jacket. That's as clean as you'll ever see me. It usually only gets that good with me unless Ella has her way again. With our limited amount of time I had to skip breakfast. This is how my stomach and I both feel /3. Max plus no food equals a very unhappy and grumpy Max. It's very sad but true.

To top it all off, mom, for the fourth time since I got to this place, informed me that I was not allowed to fly to school that day. Usually mom doesn't tell me what to do. Now that she was it was easy to figure out that I'm not a very happy person when someone orders me around. I had already gone three days without flying. I, not being a happy camper, was really starting to reach my limit. Having to be stuck in a small car wasn't helping either. Now, I seething in the back seat of the car while listening to my I-pod. Ella was having a nice conversation with mom about how she was excited about starting school at Freak High. Yeah, my mood wasn't getting any better.

When the car finally stopped, I was out faster than a bullet much like my first day at our new house. I looked around a bit but there was nothing that appeared special about Freak High. It looked the same as any other school just bigger. Of course, it must've been designed that way as to not make any on lookers have any reason to believe that the students enrolled actually had any super natural abilities. I put my I-pod away. What a life.

"Just go up to the office, it should be the first room, and tell them who you are. These are your schedules," I turned around to see mom holding out a piece of paper to me. I took it ungraciously but grinned a little to take the sting out of it. "Good luck."

"Yeah." I watched her start up the car and drive away.

"Bye, mom!" Ella called. She grabbed my hand leading me to the building. "Come on, Max! We don't want to be completely late."

It was probably just me but I suddenly had an uneasy feeling about this new school. I looked at my schedule as Ella led the way. This is What it said:

English

Algebra 1-2

Spanish

Honors Biology

B lunch

Drama...(wait when did I join Drama? Not good.)

Ability Training

Life survival skills/ Physical Education

Okay, this did not look like a good schedule for me. Besides the fact that drama was thrown in there lunch would be the second one. I missed breakfast and now I would have to wait longer time to eat. Yeah, school for isn't the best in the world but it was better than no food. And my favorite class would have to wait till the end of the day. This was not going to be my day. That's when I realized something. Ella and I had stopped walking.

We were standing just right outside the office door. Ella was just staring nervously at the door. "Uh, Ells?" I said. "I think you have to open the door to get in cause I'm guessing you're not going to teleport your self in which, you know, you can't do without leaving me."

Ella shook her head. "Oh, Max!" She cried. "I'm so scared! You do all the talking." She shoved me inside first with herself trailing behind.

The first thing I saw was secretary sitting at a lonely desk and two people sitting on a bench a boy and a girl. The two immediately stood up. The secretary looked up and smiled when she saw both Ella and I. Ella gave me a little push forward.

I turned my chin up. "Uh,"that was the confidence showing in me. "Uh, yeah, um, I'm Max Ride and this is my sister Ella Martinez." Ella stepped forward. "We're new."

The secretary nodded and looked down at her papers. "Ah, yes, Maxine Ride and Ella Martinez."

"Maximum Ride," I almost growled the correction. "Really, it's just Max." I glared at her daring her to question my natural authority.

She looked taken back but nodded anyways. "Max, then." She turned to Ella. "Your guide for today will be Monique over there."

The girl Monique stood up. Her skin was mocha colored and her hair was all curls that made her look strangely beautiful and her clothing was a stylish. I registered her as a person that would get along with Ella. She grabbed Ella's hand like Ella had to me when we were walking here. "Hi, Monique but call me Nudge," She all but tackled Ella. "Everybody calls me that. I'm not really sure why but it's a nickname and I like it. You're going to love this school!" She went on like that as they exited the office.

The secretary then turned to me again. "Max, your guide will be Sam." The boy stood up. Sam had clear brown, blue eyes, and had crinkles around them as he smiled. He looked kind of cute I wouldn't deny him that but that wasn't really what I was trying to decide. I was wondering if he was some sexist pig or if he was a jerk or if he was just a normal good guy. The last one wasn't likely it never was.

"Hi, Max." But so far he was leaning towards it. He held out his Hand and I just stared at it. It took me a while to realize he was offering to shake hands but he already put his hand down uncomfortably.

"Hey," I said. He opened the door for me and I gave him a strange look. I guess I was never really a people person. I walked into the hall, him closing the door behind us. "Yeah, so, Sam,". I said awkwardly. He looked at me. He was tall about my exact height, five eight. "I kind of want to find my own way in this school."

Sam nodded. "You wanna fly solo, huh?" I smirked. Yeah that's what I wanted to do, literally. "Yeah, I understand. But let me just give you an easy start. I'll show you where your first class and then let you go from there. If you need my help just find me. Here, can I see your schedule?" He held out his hand and I placed my schedule in it. He smiled again as he looked at my classes. " I have English, too. We have Biology and Surviving class together as well."

"Cool," I said. "Sorry if I snap at you though. Didn't eat breakfast. Things don't go well when that happens."

Sam laughed. "Can't survive without your low fat yogurt in the morning, huh?" He started walking to our classroom. I followed.

I grimaced."I rather have some greasy bacon and eggs. This morning was supposed to be milk and cereal but it spilled. We were running late so I didn't have time to grab anything on the go. Now I'm just a hungry, grumpy Max."

We turned a corner. "That's the first time I've ever heard a girl upset over missing a meal." I grinned. That's because I didn't care. "Hey, since you go here now it's only natural that I ask this. What can you do?"

It was obvious what he meant. MY fingers stretched in front of me. "Heal," I declared. It took me a second to keep myself from saying that flying was in my list of super things to do, too. "My self, others, anything."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? Never heard of anyone who could do that. Not even the nurse. Well she can mend bones when they break but that's about it. The rest is just medical expertise." He lifted his sleeve revealing a scab just below his elbow. "Can I see?"

Frowning, I lifted my hand up. "I'm not sure this will work," I said. "It sort of happens on its own." I hesitated before I moved my hand closer. "And I've never tried doing this on a scab before." Sam shrugged and I placed my hand over his arm where the scab was as we kept walking. It was the weirdest thing yet. Sam let out a sharp breath as everything began. Faster than the speed of light, the hard scab tissue peeled off and skin cells started to reconnect. Apart from this being completely creepy and gross, it was strange too because I wasn't even trying. All I did was place my hand over the scab. It just happened.

"Sam looked at his arm. "Cool."

I looked away. "Yeah." I looked around a bit. "So what can you do?"

He grinned. "Go through walls," He said it proudly. "I even learned how to take people with me." We stopped in front of a classroom. "Our English class." He then grabbed my hand. I made a move to take it my hand away but gripped it. "Now I'll show you what _I_ can do." He pulled me forward and we went through the door as if it weren't even there. When we were in he let go of me. Now _that_ was cool.

We were suddenly standing in front of a whole roomful of students. We were the center of attention. "Good morning, Mr. Z," Sam said. He pushed me forward. This is Max. She's new." With that Sam left me standing there alone as he made his way to his seat.

Mr. Z, I guess, looked at me then at Sam. "Yes, thank you, Sam. If not for your surprise entrance," he said with only a hint of sarcasm. "You must be Maxine Ride."

My fist clenched on the strap of my backpack that hanging lazily on my shoulder. "It's Maximum," I said. What is up with people calling me Maxine? "But I go by Max."

Mr. Z frowned at me a little. Maybe I should be a little more polite when I correct people. "Well, yes, I'm Mr. Zion and I will be your English teacher for the rest of the year. You can call me Mr. Z if you like, _Max_." I guess I wasn't the only one touchy about names, jeez. "Your seat will be over by Nick or should I say Fang if you happen to spot him, that is."

I didn't bother to spot who ever this Nick or Fang person was. I just found the only open seat in the class and sat down. Suave Max here, so move your butt and make way. I shook my head. I have to quit thinking that way. I sat down on the empty seat and let my backpack drop beside me. Once Mr. Z started up again on what ever lesson he had been giving I tuned out. It's not that I don't care it's just...well, yeah I don't care but somehow I always manage to pass English with an A so it's okay. I felt the person beside me sit up, he had been slouching, and there was an uptight feel vibrating from him. The sudden movement made me tense up which must have been a reflex. I didn't glance or even take a look at the person next to me. Something was telling me not to, that it was best to just mind my own business because if I didn't; something really weird would happen. Again. There was scribbling then the next second there was a piece of paper tossed in front of me. It was from the kid beside me that I was still avoiding looking at. I slanted my head to the side like a confused bird. (ha, get it? Oh never mind) Quickly, I grabbed the piece of paper and looked at it. A note. No duh, Sherlock. Sorry, I can be slow.

_I remember you_

Confusion went through me. Out of what I knew I've never heard or a Nick or a Fang kid. I wrote back:

_Huh?_

More scribbling. Then, _you're that girl. The girl from the mall._

More confusion build up in me. But slowly, ever so slowly, something began to click. I turned to look at my companion beside me. A small gasp escaped from me. I turned my head away. It was him! The guy from the mall! The one who had the cut on his neck because I was stupid enough to not look where I was going. The one who witnessed me making his cut "magically" disappear. What the _hell_ is he doing here! Yet, there was sudden relief in me. If he's here then that meant he had some strange super natural ability too. I know that sounds crazy but what a relief! I took the note and passed it back.

_And you're that guy. Thank goodness!_

_Why?_

_Because if you were to be anyone else I'd be dead and you would be freaking out uncontrollably about a super freak that just patched up you cut._

He took a while to write back. _Good point. But I wouldn't call that "patching up". It was amazing though._

I smiled, then. Not a smirk of just a grin not even a half smile. I actually smiled a full-blown smile. None of those had appeared on my face for the past week or so. That realization made my smile grow bigger which made me happier. Looking sideways at Fang/Nick I caught him looking at me. His eyes Sparkled and that startled me.

I grabbed the note and wrote, _Thanks. So, what do I call you? Fang or Nick?_

It took him a minute to return the note. _If you promise to always call me Fang, I promise to never call you Maxine_

He must have noticed the way I clenched my fist when Mr. Z called me Maxine. Or maybe I glared? I put my hand over mouth to keep from laughing out loud and making Mr. Z have a reason to scold me. I was so over that stuff.

_It's a deal, Fang_. I turned to look at Fang. His eyes glittered again. He had a smirk on his face.

_Good, Max_. And just like that I made my first friend in Freak High. I wasn't sure if I should count Sam.

* * *

**It's longer than the others I think. I'm sleepy...I'll dream of Fang tonight:) **


	4. LunchFinally

**A dozen Apologies...I just got lazy and this was supposed to be longer but I didn't know how it would work so Yeah now it's like this...forgive me?:P**

**Max POV**

So far, school was going my way despite how hungry I was and the fact that in every class the teachers seem to like calling me Maxine. I checked on their attendance sheet and it said Maximum Ride. I have no idea where they are getting this Maxine name from but it's not mine. Fang turned out to have a few more classes with me when we compared schedules. Besides English we had Biology, Ability training, PE, and lunch together. The butt head had geometry, French, and Art/Computer animation instead of the other classes I had. Algebra and Spanish were both interesting. I met a guy named Iggy who apparently loves to blow stuff up. He could also see through walls**(a/n take that white coats!)**. I think that's really cool, what other weird stuff could people do here? He said it was and that came in handy if anyone was there when he was about to set up an explosive. That made me nervous but I laughed anyways. He invited me to sit with his friends and his high self. Quoted directly from his highness. Then in bio I was placed in the sitting group with Fang, a girl named JJ and Sam. There hadn't been any group assignments yest in the year so everyone did their own thing. That's where I learned that even though Fang wrote a lot he doesn't say much. I talked mostly with JJ and Sam when he wasn't talking to his friend...did he say Dylan? And sometimes with Fang. After, Biology Sam invited me to sit with his friends but I turned him down. Gotta stick with earlier plans. I'm not one for ditching. **(****a/n did that make sense? Sorry.)**

Finally, LUNCH! I practically ran to the lunch area. It wasn't hard I just followed the troop of students. I was almost the first one there but some jerk went in front of me in the line. It was pizza day by coincidence that appealed to me very much. When I reached the salad bar I grabbed everything in sight except raisins. Dried up grapes. Who eats that? On second thought... I was hungry. I grabbed those too. I got three cookies which was the sad limit. Finally, when I bought my lunch I waited around a little to see where Iggy would be.

"Max!" I turned around. There was Iggy with his plate full of food. "Come on, I'll show you where we sit." He walked forward and I followed.

We sat in the far corner of the cafeteria. It looked like a cozy place and not many people were there, decidedly I declared the area a claustrophobia free area. "Nice place."

Iggy smiled. He looked at my lunch plate. "That's an awful lot of food, Max. Are you sure you're going to be able to finish all of that?"

"Are you kidding? I'm starved!" I looked down at my plate, It was only a cookie over what I usually ate. Speaking of cookies that one on the left looked like it was gooey in the middle. That's the way cookies were meant to be. I picked it up but before I could take a bite...

"Hey, Max. you're eating with us?" I looked up and saw Fang and JJ standing behind where Iggy was sitting. '_Apparently.'_ I slowly nodded my head.

Iggy looked at all of us. "So, you've already met JJ and Fang?" I nodded numbly and tried again to take a bite of my cookie but was interrupted again.

"Yo what's up people?" I turned to my right it was some guy I never saw before. He had a type of skater look and he had a strange type of shade of blonde hair. He looked at me. "Hey,new person," He smiled. "What's your name?"

I looked longingly at my cookie but remembered that it was rude to talk with your mouth full. I refrained from taking a bite answered instead, "Max."

"Cool name," He said. "My name's Justin." Everyone sat down.

"Nice to meet you Justin but I'm very hungry right now and I would love to take a bite of my cookie," I said preparing to take a bite. But there was yet again another interruption.

"Yeah and watch out she eats like a pig." The voice was completely recognizable. It was Ella's voice. I turned around to see her going to sit by me with the girl Nudge that was supposed to be her guide. I nearly growled at her.

I rolled my eyes. "Mm-HM, Ella but I can't do that if people keep interrupting me." I took a quick bite of my cookie before anyone could interrupt me again. Fang was sitting to my left and smirked at my quick move to my food. I swallowed so I could stick my tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue back out at me. I rolled my eyes and started devouring my food. It was what I had been longing for this whole day. It was like I was at fast food places again. I decided to slow down so my eating wouldn't freak anybody out. I grabbed a cookie and looked up at everyone. They were all looking at me eat. Maybe I was just too...not lady like when eating? I never did learn the dinning etiquette rules. No manners at all. There was one thing I did notice. The only one not looking was Fang. I smiled gratefully but he didn't see because he had his head bowed as he was eating his own lunch almost like I had been doing. He looked up.

Fang pointed to the side of his lips. "Something there."

I laughed and proceeded to wipe my mouth. "Yeah, thanks."

Ella looked at everyone else. "See? I told you she ate like a pig," but she said it kindly and I knew she didn't mean to offend me. Her next words reassured me of that. "But it's better than having a sister who doesn't eat at all." She grinned at me. Yeah, that would never happen.

"Oh, my, gosh! That is so true!" Nudge burst out. "I mean I don't have a sister or anything but that would be so weird having a sister with anorexia. I mean how sad is that? She would be making her self weaker and weaker just because she's trying to make her self sure and confident about her self. Then you would be trying to convince her that she's beautiful but she doesn't believe you and she keeps hurting herself that way. Oh, and it's so bad for your skin. I read somewhere, um, I can't remember where? Uh, I think it was on _Beauty Blog_ but anyway it said that some effects of anorexia could be that your skin could turn yellowish. Like, ewww how humph."

Iggy had placed his hand over Nudges mouth. "Okay, Nudge, enough on the anorexia parade." He took his hand off revealing Nudge smiling sheepishly.

JJ looked at me. "Her talking could take some getting used to." I nodded flustered by how much Nudge could talk. I'm not even sure she took a breath between all that.

Justing nodded in agreement. "So, you two related?"

Ella and I nodded.

"That's so weird," Iggy said. "You two look nothing alike. The height, the hair, a lot of stuff."

Ella smiled sweetly at him, a little too sweetly, if you ask me. "Well, yeah we are different. In everything, even personality. We have different dads." I stiffened. Fang looked at me. "I look more like our mom but Max looks more like, Ow!" Ella looked at me accusingly. I had kicked her beneath the table.

"They don't need to know," I whispered darkly. I was talking about my dad and Ella understood that. She nodded and made a more to stroke my arm but I involuntarily scooted away. She looked hurt but she knew why I had. "Sorry," I muttered.

I turned my head to see Fang staring at me intently. I tried smiling but it came out as a grimace.

"So,um, where did you two move from?" JJ asked this time. Fang and I looked away from each other.

Ella looked at me before answering, "South California." I nodded.

JJ's eyes brightened. "Really? Sunny beaches and stuff?" We both nodded. "Interesting, I always wanted to go there."

"Speaking of interesting," Nudge said and I thought she would start ranting again. "What can you two do? I mean you are in this school and all." I don't want to be mean and say I was relieved that she only asked a question and didn't give a whole speech. But nor can I lie.

Ella pointed at herself. "I can teleport," She the pointed at me. "And Max can-"

"Heal stuff," Ella, Fang, and I finished in unison. Ella and I both looked at Fang. Me face reddened as I remembered how he found out. I turned my face away.

"How did you know?" Ella asked.

Fang shrugged. "She showed me."

Iggy looked excited. "Really? You can do that? Can you show us?" Everyone else looked at me just as excited as Iggy. If I were to tell a group of five years old that they one a free supply of candy they wouldn't have looked more excited than them.

Ella raised her eyebrows in question at me. I nodded. "With what?" Ella asked. I looked around. Just as I was about to reply Ella sliced me with a butter knife. It stung really bad, I lifted my arm to show everyone what was already happening. Everyone looked in awe. Ella looked at me apologetically. "I didn't want you to freak."

I grimaced. "I don't freak." Ella gave me a look that reminded me about the plane, car, and mall. "At least not that bad," I mumbled. I looked back at my arm seeing it cleared of any injury. Turning back at everyone I saw them with big grins, except for Fang; he had a smirk, I don't think that guy can smile.

Iggy, however, was staring at Ella he was grinning though. "How about you, Ella? How does your teleportation work?" Ella turned a faint shade of pink and turned her face away for a minute. _'Am I missing something here?'_

"Yeah, Ells, Show them what you can do," I nudged her on the side a little. I picked up the butter knife. Who said plastic knifes aren't dangerous? "Get rid of this while you're at it." Ella took the knife. In the next second she was gone.

Everyone at the table looked around. "Uh, where'd she go?" said Justin. I pointed to the other side of the lunch area where Ella was waving next to a trashcan. Iggy waved like an idiot. Then Ella blushed again. _'Oh, wait, I think I get it now.'_ Less than a second she was back next to me.

"That was amazing," Iggy smiled at Ella and she blushed. I smirked. I know where this is headed, just what Ells always wanted.

I went back to wolfing down my food. The rest of the lunch pretty much went that way. Nudge can hack into any computer, Technopathy. Ever heard of that? Not me. Iggy says that's how she always gets a good report card. Nudge claims she only messes with the school computer system if she has anything less than a B- minus. JJ can attract any piece of metal, copper, steel, and things with similar attributes. Justin can animal morph. He said it comes in handy for the end of the quarter. I didn't know what he was talking about but Ella seemed too I didn't bother asking. Then there was Fang.

Fang was being stubborn he wouldn't tell us. No matter how much we all tried to make him tell Ella and I he refused to budge. Nudge even tried helping by saying that she wouldn't talk for a week. It wasn't long until she cracked. Ten seconds to be exact, all Fang to do was raise his eyebrow and she ended up giving a whole speech instead about why he should tell us, getting sidetracked talking about flying unicorns and taco shells for breakfast. Don't ask, all I can say is that she was serious. It wasn't until Iggy slapped his hand over her mouth that she stopped.

JJ couldn't stop laughing. "Nudge, I think you went a little off topic. I mean really how did you end up talking about Tabasco and fries in tacos?"

"No," I put my hands up as if to ward off an attacker. "Don't get her started up again." Ella could only giggle. I turned my head to face Fang. "Come on why won't you tell us?"

Fang opened his mouth to say something and for a split second I was hopeful before he shut it again. "You'll see."

"More like they won't," Iggy muttered. Fang scowled at him.

I on the other hand was giving him a dark look. "When?"

Fang shrugged. "Soon."

"How soon."

Another shrug.

I rolled my eyes. I looked at my lunch plate. I happily full with this school food, which turned out to not be that bad. There was only one thing still on my plate. Raisins. Making a face I stood up to throw the plate away. Hasta la vista raisins. "Yeah sure," I said to Fang before walking away. What was I thinking? _Raisins?_ I'd eat anything other than raisins. Even dessert rats. Now _that_ sounded more appetizing than raisins. With one last look at the raisins box I tossed it in the trash along with the lunch plastic plate. Wait oops wasn't supposed to throw away the plate. Uh. Before anyone noticed I turned away. I crashed into someone. Shaking my head I looked up a little to see who it was. Sam's friend Dylan and then there was Sam right beside him

"Sorry," We both said at the same time. I have to stop bumping into people. "Uh, yeah, sorry, I've been bumping into people a lot lately. You didn't get hurt did you?" I was thinking back to the cut on Fang's neck. I inspected Dylan's just to see.

Dylan gave a slow, deep chuckle which startled me. "No, I'm all in one piece." He looked around checking him self jokingly. "I'm fine. Don't worry." He smiled a slow easy smile like his chuckle. _'Stop it, Max.'_ "Actually, Sam wants to ask you something. I just came to throw away the rest of my lunch."

I turned to look at Sam he was standing right beside me. When did he get there? "Hey, Sam." There was something going on.

"Hey, Max," He grinned at me kindly. "I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies on Saturday and maybe I could show you around so you can get used to things around here."

I blinked. Did he just ask me out on a date? I never went on a date. "I'm not sure, my mom would probably want me to stay home," I was saying but then if Ella found out that I declined another offer to go on a date she would kill me. My mom would probably be happier than Ella if I decided to go. I didn't want to stay home either. "On the other hand," I looked at Sam's hopeful face. "Yeah, sure."

Sam smiled a big smile. "Cool," Dylan came to his side. "I'll see you at class." They both walked away.

Walking back, I noticed a few people staring at me for the first time. Most were girls and it was weird. Quickly I almost started jogging back to the group. I sat down thankfully. I looked around at everyone they were staring at me. "Uh, what?" Why was everyone staring at me? Did I accidentally let my wings out? I tightened my back and felt them press against me.

"What did Sam and Dylan want?" JJ asked suspiciously.

Oh, _that_. "Dylan, nothing but Sam asked me out on a date." There was an awkward silence.

Fang broke it surprisingly. "A date?"

I nodded my head.

Ella scowled at me. I knew she thought I rejected him. "What did you say?"

"Sure?" It sounded more like a question.

Evidently, Ella and Nudged didn't care. "Oh, my, gosh, MAX! No way! You finally said yes to someone!" Ella hugged me tightly. "Oh, there's so much we have to do! When is it? Where are you going? How long?"

I grimaced and said, "Saturday and I don't know, a movie I think?"

"That is so amazing! I can't believe your going on a date with Sam! He is like the most popular guy in school along with Dylan!" This time it was Nudge talking. And wait. Did she say he was popular? Oh, God, if there is one, this is a bad idea now. "You were talking to Dylan too! Wow, everyone must be so jealous! I mean even I'm a bit jealous. The coolest guy in the school asked you out!"

"It's her first date too!" Ella felt to add.

They both squealed. "That, like, changes everything!" Nudge practically screamed. "We have to pick out clothes, not that there's anything wrong with them of course. Then we have to do your hair! I'm amazing with hair. And your hair looks amazing so all we have to do is..."

I turn to look at everyone as Nudge kept talking about what they were going to do with me before my 'date'. JJ and Justin were laughing, Iggy was looking at me with raised eyebrows and Fang...he wasn't there. I looked around he was putting back the lunch plate. Then I looked back at Nudge and Ella. The more I listened to them the more I knew this was a bad idea. What had I gotten my self into?

* * *

**And no...Fang is not already in love with Max or something like that. He is NOT jealous...he just really hates Sam and Dylan...much like I do...I hate Dylan more though... Haha yeah anyway Hope you liked it **

**better than I did I promise things will get better later. At least, I...I hope they will. Notice my liking for ellipses?oh nevermind.**


	5. chapter 5 BAM

**Okay, so this is pretty much the LAST part to he first day of school haha I had no idea what I was doing but now I guess I do. And I'd just like to add that I might just you little excerpts of songs in my story whether they're listening to the song, singing it[?] or anything. I love all music I'm not a music discriminatory person :P So, I'm often oblivious of other people's taste so if you don't like a song...well I don't know I don't want to say deal with it just say so okay? Don't want the music to ruin the story so yeah. On the other hand if you want a song used...do tell(:.**

**One more thing before you read the story, I hope I kind of made Fang's power obvious. I don't want to disappoint anyone into believing it was something so unimaginable...but I'll throw in an extra one just in case ha ha okay? Now on with the story!**

**Max POV**

Drama was the same as any other class, the only difference was that the teacher seemed to be more stubborn about my name. When I corrected her saying my name is Max she stared me "down" for a whole five minutes and then snapped, "Maxine." She must've been at least five three. I looked down at her and talked to her as if she were five, "No, my name is Max. Maximum Ride." He prim frog like face reminded me of the annoying jerk teacher in the Harry Potter movie. What was her name? The jerk that gave them this special pen that carved into their skin? I forget _**(a/n I really do forget)**_ but that's who she reminded me of. The drama teacher's name was Mrs. Clark but who cares? We ended up glaring at each other for another fifteen minutes while the whole class looked on in what seem the most tense, scared silence. When I had first corrected her everybody gasped and things grew silent. During the stare down it seemed as if anything moved the world would end. Quickly, I had taken the roster that was in her hands and found my name. There was a barely audible gasp from the class.

"See, right there," I had shown her the paper. "Maximum, Riiide. You may call me Max." My glare had almost made the class cringe, even the teacher cringed. Ah yes! Umbridge! That was the name, for now on the drama teacher is Umbridge. Then her next words pissed me off more than anything could have the whole day.

"No, respectable girl would have Max as a name." If it weren't for the sake of not making the school go through trouble on finding a different drama teacher I would have grabbed her by the neck and tossed her to the other side of the class. Much like I had felt when I saw Umbridge in the Harry Potter movie.

I gave her a, what I hoped, was a chilling look. "At least I have respect." She had looked like she was ready to throw a casket and she might have to if the class phone hadn't wrung. After that the tension loosened and I got to just sit out of class. Maybe it was from our argument, but I was glad.

Now I was walking towards, I looked at my schedule, Ability training. I walked up to the class double door. I looked at the number of the class on my schedule; A 16. Yeah it was right but it didn't look it. I walked through the doors and stood confused for a second. There were students, yes, a few desks, yes, but then the class room was bigger it could have been a gymnasium, only a bit smaller. If it wasn't because the room was missing bleachers and basketball hoops I would have thought it was a Gym.

"Ability training," Said a voice behind me. "Welcome." I turned around but saw nothing. It had sounded like Fang. I turned to my other side then back to how I had first been standing. Then I felt someone next to me. I turned my head nothing but then I saw Dylan and smiled sheepishly when he waved at me. "Like Dylan, too?"

I was freaking my self out. Did I have a voice in my head? I made a move to slap a fly that appeared beside me as I turned around again. There was a small _'oof!'_ Then Fang appeared right next to me that I almost screamed. Trust me I don't scream often and when I do you want to be near me. I put my hand over my heart feeling it beat faster. I raised my eyebrows and said, "Ah, so that's the big secret." He smirked and nodded. "Don't do that ever again."

Fang rolled his eyes, still smirking. "So, you do like Dylan."

"What?' I asked incredulously.

"Ignored my question about Dylan," He stated. "Obvious sign."

I stared at him with my mouth slightly opened. "Are you crazy?"

"Sam," He said with distaste. "But no, Dylan now." He said Dylan's name with even greater distaste and even added a grimace and a gag. "You said yes." Fang shook his head in disgust.

I punched him in the arm, glaring. "I don't like either of them," I sneered. Fang's head lifted in surprise at my tone. "Don't say that again, you make sound like a slut." I turned to go to the teacher as the bell rang.

Fang jogged over beside me and grabbed my arm. "Sorry," His eyes grew into a dark smoldering black. "Didn't mean it that way." He shook his head as if to clear his head. "It's just they're asses." He gave me an apologetic look.

"It's fine," I said it didn't matter. Fang didn't really look like he liked them. I could understand. "I'm already regretting saying yes, my self."

Fang looked like he was about to smile but didn't he just smirked again. "I can help."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really?" He nodded just before he pushed me forward. Someone sneezed at that moment in front of me and snot landed on my right cheek. I closed my eyes as I fought down the urge to screech.

"Oh, my, gosh!" Said a girl I didn't even know. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," I went to grab a tissue and Fang was trailing behind me and I swear he was holding back a laugh. I couldn't take the snot off with out rubbing it and I made a disgusted look. When I finished taking it off I rubbed the tissue against his face.

"Ugh, What the hell?" He grabbed another tissue.

"I could say the same thing. What was that for?"

"You'll be sick by Saturday." Fang gave a cocky look.

I smiled a little at that. He found a way to get me out of the date with Sam. I shook my head and said, "Well, if I get sick, so do you."

He grimaced at me but before he could say anything the teacher called attention to the class. "All right, Everybody sit down," The teacher said, that was my cue to go up to her. The teacher was about my height, maybe an inch shorter, had short, sandy blondish hair. She looked like she was in her early forties and looked like she could be a gym teacher with the clip board she was holding. Her face called for authority. She looked at me.

"I'm the new kid," I said nicely dreading the moment she would call me Maxine.

The teacher looked at her attendance sheet. "You must be...Maximum Ride?" She said it in a question but not to insult, I could tell.

I nodded and added, "Yeah, but I like Max better."

She nodded and started walking in front of the class. '_Mm, I think I might like this teacher'_. I stayed put. "Well, Max, welcome to your skill training class. I'm Ms. Cadel and it's my job to help you," she pointed at me with the clip board. "learn how to use you ability without over doing things. Also, to help you prepare for the end of the quarter evaluation. If you don't know what I'm talking about feel free to ask one of your classmates." She had noticed the confused look on my face. Ms. Cadel flipped the pages on her clip board, looking though them as she talked, "What you really need to know, though, is the evaluation is very important in this school and you should do your best in this class to be able to get through it. Not that you shouldn't try hard in your other classes but Life skills and Ability training are two classes you should work hard in to pass the evaluation." She smiled flipping more pages on the her clip board. "It says here that you have," She stopped walking and raised her head curiously. "Accelerated healing?"

Everyone in the class looked at me in the same way, those who hadn't been paying attention now were. "Uh," I looked around at the classroom. "Is that what they call it?" The teacher had raised eyebrows. "Yep, I guess so. It comes in handy sometimes even if it doesn't take care of scars but you know the saying, You win some you lose some." I put my hands in my pockets and started to bobbing my head as if I had a tune in my head. Maybe it's just me but when you have people staring at you like you're some type of magical wonder even though they can do some pretty freaky things too you need to find some way to distract your self. "Well, this is nice and all," I trailed off.

Ms. Cadel shook her head. "It's just this school hasn't had an accelerated healer since it first opened." I tipped my head to the side as if saying 'can I sit?' "We have no assigned seating feel free to sit any where you want to. You can sit out for half of the class and then we'll figure out how things will be to prepare you for evaluation."

I looked around and noticed like always the seat next to Fang was open. The one to his left, how ever, was occupied by some girl who the whole time had been staring at him and trying to flirt with him as he sat there stiff as a rock. Before Ms. Cadel Had to tell me twice, I immediately sat down next to Fang. The girl glared at me. What did I do? She turned to keep looking at Fang. Oh. Oh, yeah, ha, that makes sense. She liked Fang. There was no need to glare at me, though.

Fang turned to me and he...guess? He smirked, no way...I gave him a lopsided grin. Fang's eyes sparkled like they did in our first class. I shook my head. I took out a piece a paper and wrote down my question, _'So, what's up with this end of quarter evaluation?'_ I figured this would be the only way I would get a detailed explanation from him. If I just talked to him he probably would have answered with two words and expect me to figure it out.

He took a pen from his desk and started writing. I, in the mean time, just listened to the teacher as she explained that in order to do something with this stuff and do stuff one would have to do this. Yeah, I wasn't really paying attention but at least I looked at it. Some of the class had even chosen to show that they were sleeping. Fang looked like he was taking notes. The girl to his side was twirling her blonde hair with one finger still trying to get his attention but somehow she still looked like she was paying attention to the teacher. The weird thing is I think she was.

Fang passed me the note back. _It's a weird test. Not the usual answer the question and bubble in the answer. It all depends on what we can do. It's sort of a thing to see if we can survive in the outside world with what we can do. The school __**( a/n no pun intended)**__ puts us in different environments for __example if you can morph into animals like Justin then they put you in this forest area near here. You have to 'out smart', more like fight, these kind of robotic wolf things. We mostly just call them M geeks __**(:) )**__ and stuff like that. It's hard to explain. If you don't have a specific environment type of place with you ability you just get placed out side and it all begins. It'll make more sense when you start doing stuff in here and in life skills. Everything is supposed to get harder every quarter though. You basically just have to show that you know how to survive and use your ability._

I frowned and looked at Fang. Confusing but okay. Suddenly, Ms. Cadel told everyone to get started on work and told me just to watch. Everyone went to different parts of class. The whole period,I saw people doing all kinds of things. Some blew things up, other lifted things up even with I things their minds. The girl that was beside Fang, I learned her name is Brigid, was actually blasting ice from her hands at one of the plastic dummies that were everywhere. You have to turn on a switch and then they start attacking you. Fang says they can hear you. That's kind of creepy don't you think? They're kind of like living robots...Freak high, definitely.

Ms. Cadel had taken me off to the side and started asking if I had taking any self defense classes of some kind, asked what I could do. Most of the class went on like that. She let me look around to see what other people were doing. Fang had come up behind me pretending to sound like a wild hog making me screech and ending with Fang on the ground and a bruise on his left shin. He has half animal mimicry, so he can imitate any sound of any animal, only animals. It would have been better for both of us if he had just chosen to tell me that little special ability he could do.

Then in physical ed. Or according to everyone else, Life skills, The teacher was mostly like the Ability training teacher only he insisted on calling me Ride instead of Max. It's okay, though, anything is better than being called Maxine. He wanted to make me sit out but nobody is making me sit out for my favorite class. He argued that I didn't have the uniform nor the right clothes to participate and with that I went into the locker rooms and came out with some Gym clothes that I sometimes kept in my backpack. Nobody ever wins an argument against me. We ended running two miles. I beat everyone, even Fang by a close second. Not that I'm boasting or anything but...yeah it was awesome couldn't help but rub it in his face. Then we did rope climbing, I didn't know anyone did that anymore or at all. Justin and Fang were both in this class with me. There was this girl named Lissa that had a tendency to bump into me every time she came near us. The last time she did that I conveniently had my foot in front of her and she tripped over it. Fang had glared at me before helping her up. What was up with that?

Then finally, you'll never guess what came after Life skills. The end of school! I waited for Ella outside on the steps. "Hey, Max?" I turned around and saw Ella standing behind me. I got up. "I want to go ask mom if I can go over to Nudge's house, So I'm going ahead of you is that okay?"

I nodded, "Sure Ells, I want some time alone anyway." She dissapeared after that and I looked up at the sky. Sure, Ella can use her teleportation but I can't use my wings, what a life. _**(**__**a/n I got that from the tide commercial ha ha)**_ I started to walk and looked around. I didn't get why mom drove us to school and wanted us to walk back. Don't get me wrong, I hate cars but it was a long way home. Taking out my I-pod, I realized I had accidentally left it on with the volume down. The power was still green so I just put my headphones on with the music playing. _F__ar away and breakaway, I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky._ I wanted to let my self fly right now and spread my own wings. I looked around this place had a lot of trees surrounding it. Then I had an idea. I ran into the small woods looking around to make sure no one saw me. I went deeper and deeper until I was sure no one would be able to see me. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my waist. Then, I adjusted my backpack and let my wings spread out. It felt great, they were relaxed strong and in need of some exercise. I smiled. Then I started to run just for the fun of it and leaped into the air with my wings beating against the light wind. It had been a really long while since I had been allowed to fly and right now I was embracing every moment of this.

* * *

**Fang P.O.V**

Iggy and I were flying home together talking about, well, Iggy was talking about Max and Ella. He was mostly talking about Ella. I'm pretty sure he has a thing for her. Nudge had flown ahead of us because she wanted to be at Ella's house so they could go to her house. It's basically Iggy's home but his family had taken her in until she finished High school. Her parents couldn't leave their home in Colorado but wanted her to be able to live freely so they sent her here. Her parents are good friends with Iggy's and since he has wings they thought it would be easier for her. They both come down during breaks and her mom is supposed to come to stay with Nudge for the rest of the time in a few months. Iggy and I looked at her as a sister. She seemed excited about having Ella over but Iggy seemed more excited. Definitely has a thing for Ella.

"Hey, you should ask Max," Iggy was saying.

I turned to look at him. "Ask her what?"

"Man, you weren't listening to anything I was saying!" Iggy let out a frustrated sound.

"Ask her what?" I repeated.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "If Ella has a boyfriend."

"Why?"

Iggy had a stupid grin. "So, if she doesn't have a boyfriend I can get to know her. Maybe, I don't know, if things go right I can ask her out."

"Why me?" I looked at him weird. "You ask Max."

Iggy flew above me and then dropped down. "No, then she'll know I like her sister."

I rolled my eyes this time. "She could help."

Iggy looked thoughtful for a minute then smiled brightly. "Alright," He flew in front of me and patted my head. I hit his hand away. "Good thinking." Iggy flew back beside me.

I shook my head and looked ahead. Then I saw something In the sky ahead of us. It looked kind of like it had wings but it seemed bigger than a bird. "Iggy."

"What?"

"There's something ahead." It started to bob and weave.

Iggy watched it as well. "Let's follow it and see what it is."

I nodded and we started to beat our wings against the wind harder.

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

Catch my disease started playing and I started to laugh. It reminded me of how Fang had pushed me in front of that girl making her sneeze on me. Then I remembered the look on his face when I wiped the snot on his face and started laughing more. Flying is so amazing, it's the best thing in my life. I started to flow with the music. I twisted around and my left head phone fell out of my ear. I went to put it back on but just as I was about to put it in I could feel someone following. Though things didn't turn out so great the last time I thought someone was following me, I started to speed up. I went from relaxed to alert going faster and faster. What could be following you in the sky Max? You may ask. I don't know for sure, but I know a lot could follow me and I don't care what.

* * *

**Fang P.O.V**

What ever was ahead of us started moving faster. It could feel us following it, I just knew it. Iggy and I looked at each other and nodded. We went faster. What was it?

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

I turned my head slightly to the side to see if there was in fact something following me but so that it couldn't see my face if there was. I was right, I was being followed but not by just one something but by two somethings. They were a bit far to see who it was unless I turned completely around and I didn't want to do that. I went faster but realized I couldn't go any faster without having the chance of passing my house. I aimed towards the ground and tucked my wings in. Now I was falling as fast as lighting strikes the ground.

* * *

**Fang P.O.V**

The object was pretty fast. The faster we tried to go it always beat us to the punch going double our speed. Just as Iggy and me were about to go as fast as we could we saw it drop. "What the-!" Iggy said. We put on our full speed and went towards it.

* * *

**Max P.O.V**** (a/n no more switching in the chapter ha ha:])**

I spread my wings just before I crashed and landed almost gracefully. I tucked them in quickly and took of my backpack to put on my jacket. Once that was done and I had my backpack back on I ran out of the foresty area I landed in until I reached sidewalk. I looked around and saw that I was still a few houses away until I reached the quarter of a mile until I reached my house. I reached up to pat down my wind blown hair. Right now I could have used a brush but Ella was the only one that carried that stuff and she wasn't here. I combed my hair with my fingers with them getting stuck on a few knots. Finally, I decided it was okay. I started to walk forward but then I heard something from the trees. I tensed up and turned around. What came out of the trees baffled me. Fang and Iggy looking around with confused looks on their faces. Iggy saw me first.

"Oh, Hey Max." He said with a smile.

I returned the smile. "Hey." Both of their faces looked a bit flush. Suspicion rose in me but I shrugged it off. "What were you two doing in there?"

The two looked at each other uneasily. "Uh," Iggy started. "Just playing around." Fang scoffed. Iggy responded by slapping him in the head. "You know," Iggy said slowly. "You look a bit red. Could it be you like seeing us, Max? If you know what I mean."

This time both Fang and I smacked Iggy upside the head. "Your company doesn't annoy me that much," I said glaring at him slightly. "I'm red because I-" I stopped my self before saying that I was flying. "I was running but then I decided to stop for a while.

Their eyebrows raised. "From school?" Fang asked.

"Yeah," I said. Was that seriously the best I could think of? Mentally slapping my self on the head I added, "I like the way the wind blows against my face and how my hair just flows behind me and stuff." That was true about flying at least. I looked at them and then I impulsively said, "It would be like flying really fast." Stupid, Max. Why did I say that?

They both looked at me suspiciously. "What would you know about flying?" Iggy asked while Fang kept on looking at me.

"I can imagine can't I?" I looked up at the sky. It was in perfect flying condition. "I would love to fly." I laughed at the idiocy of saying that.

Fang whispered to him self, "Yeah, you would." He looked down at the ground as if he didn't expect me to hear him. I eyed him curiously.

Iggy glanced at him. "Well, yeah, that would be nice."

I smiled. "Ever been sky diving? Imagine that but with wings and just being able to stay floating around. That's what flying would be like." I made my self look thoughtful. "I think."

As if to change the subject Iggy asked, "You've been skydiving?"

"Yep," I did once nobody knew I was on the plane. It was for Mom and Ella. When mom found out she freaked. I looked ahead. "Well, it was nice talking to both of you and all but I have to get home." I turned and started walking. After only a few feet Fang called my name.

"Max!Wait!" I turned around. "Iggy wants to say something."

It was a complete sentence coming from Fang. I waited. Fang pushed Iggy forward. "Yeah?"

Iggy turned a bright red. "Uh, um, Does Ella have a boyfriend?"

The last part came out as a rush but when I realized what he had said I burst out laughing. Ella would be glad. Her Romeo likes her. I stopped laughing for a minute. Romeo? Jeez, Max, you're only here a few days and you're already thinking weird things. I shook my head. "No." I started walking away but once I was far enough I shouted, "You should ask her out Iggy!" I turned just in time to see Iggy turn a new shade of red I had never seen. I burst out laughing. I put on my head phones from my forgotten I-pod. I started wishing I could fly again but I kept on walking home.

When I finally got there and opened the door giggling surrounded me. I saw Nudge and Ella in the living room. "I thought you were going to Nudge's house," I looked at them.

"Oh, yeah, we're going in a little bit," Ella responded.

"Max? Is that you?" I turned around and saw mom coming in. I smiled as she came to hug me. "How was your first day at school?"

I raised my chin. "Good. New friends. New teachers. Some butt heads others good. You know, new stuff." I grinned and then I smelled cookies. I ran into the kitchen and found that they were still in the oven. Disappointed, I went back to the living room. "I'm going to put away my stuff in my room." As I was heading up the stairs Ella exclaimed, "Oh, mom! Max got asked out to a date and she said yes!"

"Oh, Max!" Mom cried happily.

Oh, flying pigs, why did she say that? Wasn't Nudge supposed to be the chatterbox? I could choke Ella right now. I turned around slowly and smiled sheepishly trying not to gag. Everyone was grinning.

Great.

* * *

**Oh, and to answer your question Ally Fang hates Dylan and Sam because I hate Dylan and Sam. -****.- yeah I know...He mostly hates Dylan , Sam just a bit(: **

**And people, do you think I should put Saturday as the next chapter or should I put something in between? Up to you guys...See ya(:**

**P.S sorry for the late up date -_- I'm naturally lazy...[sometimes] I take after my dad [sometimes] It's longer than the others so that's my way of making it up to you :P  
**


	6. Uh, Uh, uhh

**I am sorry...****-_-... Did I mention how I love Canada, The U.S, Taiwan, the U.K, Australia, and New Zealand? And not just because of your accents ha, ha.**

* * *

**MAX P.O.V**

_The cage was cold and rusty on the edges. I was damp from sweat and I could barely sit up, not that it would have been more comfortable. I wouldn't be able to sit up all the way despite my tiny, skinny size. My eyes were half shut, one eye from exhaustion the other from being swollen. Turning my head I laid on my my side then my eyes caught sight of a boy about my age in another cage almost to the other side of the small room. He was sitting up as high as his cage would allow with his head leaning against the bars of the cage. He turned his head and his dark eyes met mine. I cocked my head to the side making my eyes go as wide as they could knowing it would make me look like an idiot. Then I puffed up cheeks and stuck my tongue out. He grinned then responded by scrunching up his face in such a way that his face looked all wrinkled. Then the boy crossed his eyes while bobbing his head side to side trying not to hit his head against the top of the cage. I laughed but it came out in a short raspy sound. The boy's eyes glistened at the sound of my laugh knowing I didn't normally sound like that. I smiled widely despite the blurring in my own eyes trying to make his spirits go back up. He blinked and the glistening was gone and stuck his tongue out at me. I did the same just as the door of the room came open. In a split second my tongue was back in my mouth and I pushed back as far as the cage would let me as the boy did. There were five men who came in all in white coats one was carrying another boy but he was blonde and his eyes were covered with bandages. The boy in the other cage turn to look at me in the exact time I turned to look at him. His eyes had the same worry I felt. Then one of the white coats turned to my cage._

_ "Time for the maze," He said. I bared my teeth at him and growled at him as if I were an angry dog. I noticed that there were more white coats then the usual three that came to get me. I felt weak and didn't think they had to work hard this time. The last test that they had done on me hadn't been that long ago but I was determined not to go without a fight. When he opened my cage I immediately bolted __straight into his legs making him fall backwards knocking over the other two behind him. They landed in a big heap and I immediately grabbed the ankle of the other white coat coming towards me twisting it then when he fell backwards I slithered past between the other still standing that tried to avoid being toppled over. Hope seared through me when I almost reached the freedom of the door but I knew I wouldn't make it. Sure enough, two of the men grabbed me and pulled me off my feet. I struggled violently but I didn't have enough strength to pull lose. I grabbed the arm of a third white coat who was about to strike me and bit down so hard that his arm bled. He jerked his arm away, "You'll pay for that."_

_ "You better run fast in the maze because it'll be worse than the other times," Another warned. Threatened was a better word. Satisfied with the extracting of blood and too tired to go on I went limp allowing them to take me away to the electrocuting maze that was my fate. But just before they took me away I caught sight of the dark eyed boy staring at me with sad eyes in my effort to make him smile I stuck my tongue out at him and through my half closed eyes I saw the ghost of a smile on his face despite his glistening eyes._

I woke up with a start. Sweat was on my forehead, my body ached, and when I opened my eyes they were moist. I sat up and I craned my head to the side then to the other. The over sized shirt I wore to bed was wet with my sweat front and back. I was more sweaty then in the dream I had just had. They were always like that. It wasn't always the same dream but they were somehow always related. The people in it, the evil people in white science coats, and sometimes even these strange half man and half wolf creatures. My more pleasant dreams were when I was with the two boys; the blonde one and the dark haired, dark eyed boy. There was also usually a girl with messy, curly hair and dark skin. She was the younger one of us. The worse ones were where I dreamt that the ones in the lab coats were experimenting on me or making me do weird tests like the one they were going to subject me to this dream. I was all too familiar with that dream, it usually ended with me being shocked by the floors of a maze when I completely stopped running through it and didn't get up. The dream usually ended that way and if I was lucky it would end like it did this morning. Sadly, it was one of the few pleasant dreams that also had experimentation in it. Actually, calling them dreams wasn't the right word. They were more like nightmares but I was so used to them. Sometimes I would wake up screaming and if they were bad enough I'd wake up crying as well. They were the only type of dreams I had ever had. That was...until Monday night. That night I had dreams of flying, of friends, and of adventures. Something that had never happened and it went on until Thursday night when I had gotten my fever and the bacteria of that girl had sneezed on me finally caught up with me. What ever it was that she had it was bad because not only did I have one of my worst nightmares but I ended puking until all that was coming out was stomach acid. I had to miss school because of it on Friday. The thing about healing is it doesn't only speed up the process of stitching up my cuts and stuff but it also speeds up my sick time. By that I mean, not only do I get over being sick quicker but when it gets me it, it's like ten sick days all in one. Now that I was awake I realized I was clear of any illness then I realized it was Saturday. A healthy Max on a Saturday meant Max on a date with a guy named Sam. I looked up at the ceiling and cursed Fang. Why did his plan have to be so futile? I scowled at everything in my room. Then I jumped up and kicked the frame of my bed. I ignored the tremor of pain that came from my foot. I was so frustrated I didn't realize someone had opened the door to my bedroom.

"Max?"

"WHAT!" I shouted and instantly regretted it after turning around to face a very baffled and slightly frightened Ella.

Ella looked behind her as if the reason for my outburst was there. "I," She turned to face me again uneasily. "I was just, I mean, mom just wanted me to check up on you and see if you were up and , uh, healthy."

I sent Ella an apologetic look. "Uh, yeah, I'm as healthy as buttercup." I turned my head to the side. A buttercup? Wow Max. I looked back at her. "And obviously, I'm up." I walked towards my bed and picked up a pillow from my bed. "Sorry about yelling at you. Not a pleasant night. You know, I'm just not a morning person." Giving Ella and awkward grin I shrugged.

"Yeah, I know, Max. It's alright," Ella started to close the door. "Oh, and Nudge will be coming over to help you get ready for your date later," She added quickly before shutting her door.

I looked at the pillow in my hands then I slammed my face into it, letting my head fall with it on the bed and let out a screech so high you could barely hear it. Raising my head, from the pillow I wiped my mouth even though there wasn't anything to wipe. I grudgingly went into the bathroom to take a shower and clean the remainder of the sweat on me.

Turning on the shower head I spread out my wings as much as the could and then let them relax. It's not that I'm not a morning person it's just that my dreams put me in a bad mood I certainly surprised mom and Ella when I woke up in a good mood for three days straight. Knowing that I had an impending date later in the day just added to it. I could get up early and everything, generally I'm a light sleeper but I have my moments. Like on my first day of school when I slept through the alarm. I smiled at the memory of my first day. It wasn't as bad as I initially thought it would be. After the first day word got out that I could heal and people were staring at me as if I were something amazing either that or a freak. I smirked each time imagining their reactions if they knew I had wings.

Umbridge and I got out of each others' way as much as we could but then she realized I could act well and she by Thursday she was a bit nicer. She's still Umbridge though. To tell you the truth I had no idea I could act either, let alone memorize a whole paragraph. Must be my amazing sarcasm skills that help. If that makes sense.

Even though Umbridge got more pleasant, the opposite was true for Lissa and Brigid, especially the latter. I don't think the Brigid chick...Brigid chick. As if she's some type of cute bird. I laughed at the thought. Well, anyways, I don't think she likes me. Lissa wasn't as bad as her she was more on the annoying side with her efforts on flirting with Fang. When I was with Fang she'd usually tried to bump into me which mostly annoyed me. When she realized I was hanging out with Fang and the others she started asking me questions about him that I had no way of answering. Turns out she's also in my Spanish class and she's also best friends with Brigid, which would explain why she didn't even acknowledge me when she was around except with a glare. What I think is funny is that she has red hair and can make up fire. Funny, right? It's also weird how her best friend can make ice. But really I think that Lissa is really just controlled by her or something. Freaky...

Then to my own new group of friends. I think it's nice to have Ella there with me, it usually doesn't happen. Then Nudge, despite her endless chatter, proved to actually be a pretty nice girl, very agreeable. JJ was actually into this whole jock kind of thing which I think is cool but like the other girls she still had sense of fashion as they call it. I think I'm the only one lacking in that department. Justin was a skater type and he often like to help Iggy make some of his uh...devices out of what I know. He also has his immature side with his animal morphing he tended to like scaring people in an animal form. Iggy was actually really funny and he was almost as immature as Justin except he uses his "projects." He still hasn't asked Ella out on a date. Even though it's obvious that they like each other, even to me which is saying something. Then there was Fang. Out of everyone in the group I liked hanging out with Fang best. Sure he didn't talk much but there was something about him that I liked and then I also felt as if I knew him from before. Some where in my past but I wasn't sure. He also gave off that vibe to me that I could trust him. I don't get that vibe from people a lot. He was fun to be around and was the only other person that could catch up to me in running. He's only beat me once but that was because I almost tripped so that doesn't count...at least not in my book. I learned from various notes passed between us that he writes a lot. It makes up for the lack of speech on his part. I swear I think he also writes some sort of poetry or something. Maybe some depressing poetry? Nah, just kidding but it looked like poetry when I glanced at his note pad. No I didn't read it! I wouldn't do that. At least not to a friend and so far Fang is a very good friend and has amazing guitar skills out of what he boasts(I have yet to find out if this is true). I smiled when I though of Wednesday when we were sneezing like elephants. Uh, well, I'm not sure if I've ever heard an elephant sneeze but when they blow out their trunks? That's what we sounded like.

Then I thought of the accident in the mall and how freaked out I had been. I shook my head. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower I shook my wings lightly to get the water out of them. I quickly grabbed a T-shirt with jeans and put them on. I quickly brushed my wet hair and then ran off into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Yeah, Arizona isn't that bad once you get used to it. Actually, it wasn't bad at all.

**Fang P.O.V**

Cursing Max, I ran quickly to the Kleenex box on the coffee table once again to grab a tissue just as I was about to sneeze. Having this been the sixth time in only ten minutes that I sneezed I just snatched up the box and decided to take it with me where ever I went. Maybe pushing Max in front of Stacy wasn't a good idea. According to Ella Max got sick really badly that she was puking most of the morning. Though, she didn't really have to smear that snot on my face. Now I'm stuck with the worse runny nose I've ever had in my life. So she had what was coming to her, right? Actually, I take that back. I remembered that Ella told me that Max also woke up screaming and crying from a nightmare she had. She said it was worse than the other times. Of course, I didn't get to find out what she meant by that because Ella shut her mouth quickly because apparently she wasn't supposed to say that. She made me promise five times not to tell anyone that she told me that.

Wiping my nose again, I wondered what the other times were. Did Max usually wake up crying? I didn't like the thought of that. I've only known Max for like what? Less than a week? But she still seemed like, I don't know, a sister to me? I have a feeling I've known her from before. It was something different from when I saw her in English. Completely different but strong.

I rubbed my neck. Oh, no, here it comes again. I sneezed louder than I had the other times and I made the mistake at looking at the tissue I had used. "Yeah, that's a slugger." The door rang. I went to go open it for some reason I was always home alone on the weekends for most of the time. When I opened the door the first thing I saw was an anxious Iggy and an impatient Nudge. I looked at Iggy's slightly paler than usual face and saw him fidgeting. I threw the tissue in the trash can at the door then looked at Iggy again. "Definitely a slugger," I muttered under my breath. "Sup?"

Iggy took a quick look at Nudge. "Uh, well here's the thing, Fang," Again, he took a quick glance Nudge. "Nudge is supposed to go to Ella's house so they both can, you know, dress Max up or something for her date with Sam." We both made a grimace at the same time. "So, then Nudge told me I had to go too and when I said I wouldn't she wouldn't stop talking, it was a whole speech on why I should go but then when I said no again she threatened to tie me up and have Ella teleport her self to our house so they could dress me up as a girl and drag me there. So then I said yeah because, you know, that's enough to-"

"Iggy, hurry up, I'm the one who's supposed to be a chatter box," Nudge interrupted irritatedly.

Iggy gave her a look before turning to look at me. "That's when I decided that if I have to go then you're going too." He gave me a sly smile and then muttered, "I honestly don't know why they want me to come."

I held up the tissue box. "I'm sick."

"Come on, Fang," He said with pleading eyes. "I don't wanna be alone and I think we should keep Max company."

"There house is almost a mile away."

Nudged chimed in. "We could fly." It was definitely the shortest sentence I have ever heard out of her. She was trying to coerce me.

"Where do we land?

"The woods near their house." Definitely, coercing me.

I looked at Nudge who was now tapping her feet faster than necessary, then at my tissue box, and finally back to a pleading Iggy. I gave a sigh. "Fine," I tucked the tissue box under my arm. "But I'm taking these."

* * *

**MAX P.O.V**

I had to act quick. I didn't know where to go and then I ran into my room not knowing what to do with the box in my arms. These things would have to be gotten rid of, just the sight made me gag. The thought that those evil munchkins intended to use that stuff on me terrified me. From far I heard Ella calling my name. I turned in circles wondering where to hide them. I ran to my balcony with no idea what I was intending to do, that is until Ella opened the door.

"Hey, Max do you know where all the cosmetics in the house are?"

With a yelp of surprise, I turned suddenly accidentally letting the substances of the box tumble out over the balcony. "Oh, shoot!"

Ella looked at me terrified. "You did not just," She didn't bother to finish her sentence before she vanished. "MAX!" Ella's ear splitting scream came from below. I looked over the balcony to see a murderous Ella. Her face almost resembled my face when I was pissed. I made a run for the the door knowing it was a fatal attempt. She appeared right before me in less than a second. "I can not believe you just through all my make up, all the beauty equipment, _over your balcony!_"

I tried not to laugh out loud because Ella being angry over cosmetics was like a kitten being mad about a hairball. "It was an accident. I was going to hide them not throw them but you startled me." In exchange, I sounded like a little kid being scolded by their mom.

Before Ella could start ranting, the door bell rang and she was gone again. Then in the next two minutes I heard and angry Nudge scream, "She did what?" Ella appeared back in my room. "We are going to the mall to buy stuff that we need and you are going to pay me for all of it when I come back. We still have three hours before Sam comes," She said grudgingly. It was one thirteen. Sam came at four.

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm only paying for half of it. I'll pay for all of it if any of that stuff ends up on my face." My voice had the tone of no argument. She left. I practically ran back to the balcony when Fang and Iggy came bursting into my room laughing. Well, Iggy was laughing, Fang was just chuckling and smirking his version of laughing out loud. I balanced my self, crouching, on the solid edge, that was about seven feet wide, of the balcony preparing to take of my shirt to reveal a tank top that was underneath.

"What do you think you're doing?' I heard Fang ask and it startled me.

I turned to see Fang staring at me with a bewildered look on his face. "What does it look like?" I turned my face ahead of me looking at the lake. "I'm getting ready to fly so Ella doesn't come to kill me when she realizes I have her wallet so she can't buy anymore make up stuff." I grabbed the hem of my shirt.

Just before I pulled up my shirt Fang said with a strange look in his eyes, "Fly?"

That's when I realized what I had said and to whom I had said it to. I immediately but as discreetly as I could let go of my shirt. I smiled sheepishly, "Ha, ha just kidding." I turned around and set my feet on the balcony floor. Making a quick excuse I added, "Actually, I was gonna injure my self so she couldn't bother me for a while." I caught Iggy shaking his head like I was crazy. I probably am but as long as they don't put me in an asylum I'm good. "Really, I need a place to hide." I started to look around and then found my self staring into Fang's dark eyes. I would have looked away but I saw something I recognized in them and couldn't turn my face away. The image of the dark eyed boy appeared in my mind. Or did I actually see him? My mouth opened just slightly. Could it...

Before I could finish my train of thought Nudge and Ella burst into my room making Fang's head and mine jerk towards the door. "Where is it?" Ella asked bluntly.

I took out her wallet from my back pocket and handed it over with no struggle. I didn't feel like doing it. Initially, I had thought of putting the wallet in the last place she'd look, my running shoes(they don't smell but the sight of them scares her off) but I was still trying to figure out what to do with the lipsticks, eyeliners, basic makeup, and other powders of death.

Nudge grabbed Iggy by the arm. "Wait, what-what are you," He sputtered.

"The reason you came was to help me," Nudge stated. "So, you're coming along." I could tell that wasn't the reason. She wanted him near Ella. "Let's go," Nudge yanked him again,

"Fang was supposed to keep me company, why isn't he coming?" Iggy asked indignantly.

"He's making sure Max doesn't escape," Nudge replied getting him closer to the door. "Won't you Fang?"

"Sure."

Iggy glared at him. "So not cool."

"Please Iggy?" Ella pleaded slightly beside him. They were out the door in the next second.

I couldn't help but grin. I flopped onto my bed belly first and turned my head to look at Fang and then sat up. "You aren't really going to stand guard, are you?"

"Nah," He replied sitting beside me.

"Good," I looked at him accusingly. "Cause you owe me."

Fang laid back on my bed looking just a bit uncomfortable then relaxed. "You're not the one who's sick." He pointed to the box of tissues he had brought with him.

Scowling, I put my hands on my hips. "I should be," I sounded like a child. "But since I'm not I have to go on a date at four."

"I could always just sneeze on you."

"No, thanks."

"Suit your self."

I punched his shoulder lightly. "Don't say that. You have to help me." I stuck my tongue out at him. He cocked his head to the side and did the same. Then there it was, that feeling like I knew him from before. I shook my head. Then we started to think of what we could do.

After ten minutes of silent thinking Fang spoke up(shocking I know). "Well, what food makes you vomit with out a doubt when you eat it?"

I thought for a minute. "A lot of raisins and tomato soup."

"Do you have any here?"

"Uh, a box of raisins and a few cans of soup." Fang started to wiggle his eyebrows. I turned on him suspiciously. "Why? What are you thinking."

"You could eat some and then start puking," He stated like it was obvious. "You'll seem sick but you won't be."

I grimaced, "By the end of it I might be."

"Any other suggestions?"

I shook my head, "Nope, apparently not."

"How much time till they come back?" It was weird having him talk more than usual.

I glanced at the clock. "Knowing Ella, they'll be back in thirty minutes."

"That works." We both got off of the bed.

"Let's start."

* * *

**Okay I admit it I was lazy and didn't write but then when I did I got writer's block and when I got over writer's block I found two breaks in my traffic and stopped. I'm sorry I was just offended haha :P But yeah any way hope you liked it**

**P.S thanks UK for being the most faithful:)**


	7. Tomato soup:

** I'm trying to update sooner for the sake of taking up my time and people's well being. Plus the computer got moved to my room. Hooray!**

**Fang P.O.V**

Seven cans of tomato soup and a box of raisins later, in other words thirty minutes later when Ella came as expected, Max was still puking into the toilet with one of my hands holding her hair up and the other with a tissue near my nose. I had disposed of the evidence earlier when Max started puking burying it deep into the trash can but when I came back Max was full out barfing with hair near her face. I was surprised to find she hadn't even got puke in her hair but I didn't want to take any chances so I ended up holding her hair up even though when I first tried she slapped my hand away. Before she could openly protest, however, she started puking again. I tried not to look but it was hard when she made gagging and choking noises. It was just to make sure she wasn't actually choking. Ella's face, along with everyone else's, was priceless when they found us in the bathroom.

"What happened?" Ella's mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide.

Nodding my head towards Max, I answered, "She's going to have to call in sick."

Ella dropped the bags in her hands. "But Max," She said in an almost disbelieving voice. "You said you were as healthy as buttercup this morning!" Wait. A what?

"And how healthy," Max said as loudly as she could but then puked again then spoke up again. "Is a buttercup exactly?" Ella shut her mouth and frowned. "Plus," the gagging sound again. "Never mind, I forgot." She continued puking. "Bring me a bucket. I can't kneel next to a toilet any longer," She demanded to no one in particular. "I think the toilet water smell is causing half of this." Nudge brought a the bucket that was in Max's cabinet under the sink with a disgusted look on her face. Max took it and flushed the toilet just before more vomit spilled out. "Thanks," she replied to her and then growled to me, "Let go of my hair." I complied almost immediately. Max wobbled over to her bed just like a child that I couldn't help but grin a little. Nobody noticed.

There was a moment of silence with only the sound of Max gagging into the bucket. "Wait where's Iggy?" Nudge said suddenly. "Where'd he go? Ugh, he was here a minute ago. Jeez, that Wiesel why is he always running away?"

Max raised her head for a second. "I think he left to go home." She lowered her head again taking in deep breaths. Come to think of it, I hadn't even noticed him leave.

With a frustrated and some more rambling Nudge took Ella by the hand and led her out of the room muttering, "Forget him let's just hang out. I guess we should call Sam to tell him what happened. I don't think Max can talk without puking every other minute-"

"I heard that," there was more gagging from Max. "But yeah good idea." She threw up.

Nudge shut the door. Max gagged and puked a bit more and then stopped to listen. I did too but I didn't hear anything. I shot her a confused look.

In response, Max rolled her eyes and said, "Get out from under my bed, Iggy. They're gone now."

A relieved Iggy came sliding out from under her bed. How did she know he was under there? "How'd you know I was under there?" Iggy asked as if reading my thoughts.

Max looked at him exhausted but managed to make a good 'duh' face. "It's my room. I don't miss much." She looked back down at the bucket and grimaced.

"Cool skateboard by the way," Iggy added holding the skateboard in his hands.

"Put Hilbert back where you found him."

I raised one eyebrow. "Hilbert?"

"Shut up."

I rolled my eyes then looked at Iggy who took a spot near the end of Max's bed. I took the other side."What they do to you?" I directed my question to Iggy.

He put his hands behind his head. "Well, I can live with Nudge," He started swaying his head. "And I like hanging around Ella but I can't be with them both. They actually took me to a lingerie store. This short old lady, looked around seventy, and she was actually trying to pick out some thongs. She asked me which ones _I_ thought would suit her best," Iggy gave a shudder. "Then they took me into Hot topic. They work fast." Iggy closed his eyes.

Max smiled slightly. "Which reminds me," Max said lazily. "You still haven't asked my sister out yet." Iggy turned a faint shade of pink but before he could say anything Max's head snapped up. "Wait. What were they doing there?" In response, Iggy picked up a shopping bag off the floor and threw it at Max. She caught it and looked inside. She let go of the bag as if she had been scorched then proceeded to vomit into the bucket. "They're crazy," She croaked. "No way I would ever wear a dress." She threw the bag to the other side of the room. She set the bucket down near the bed on the floor then laid back down.

Iggy leaned close to her. "You look a little green around the gills."

"Oh, har, har, very funny," She threw her pillow at his face. "I just hope this will last until there's no doubt I get to miss the date with Sam."

"There's still a can of tomato soup left over just in case." Max paled. I smirked

Iggy looked at both of us suspiciously. "Wait am I missing something."

"You're brain," came Max's sarcastic reply at the same time that I said, "No comment."

Iggy glared for a moment and then shrugged as if dismissing the subject.

Max leaned over the bed and picked up the bucket. She looked at the bucket and turned a faint shade of green. "Hide Iggy," She whispered to Iggy. "They're coming, I hear them."

Iggy looked around worriedly. "Who is?"

"The evil munchkins of giggles, clothing, and fashionable death." We both gave her blank looks. She rolled her eyes. "That would be Nudge and Ella. Together." Iggy jumped of the bed but before he could get anywhere the door burst open.

Nudge laughed and immediately grabbed hold of Iggy's arm before he could get away. "See I told you I heard his voice up here. He couldn't have left without us noticing. Come on Iggy we have some things to do," Nudge, followed by Ella, started to pull Iggy out the door but Max called out to them.

"Hey, I need a new bucket!"

Ella grimaced. "Ew, Max, no way am I touching that."

Max turned to Nudge but she left with Iggy before she could ask. Then she looked at me. I grimaced. "No way."

She sighed. "Fine, I'll do it." She stood up and wobbled to her bathroom.

I smirked than shook my head. I looked around and got off the bed. Near the left side she had nightstand filled with picture frames. Every picture had it's own special place. Max with a few friends, and when I say a few friends I mean a few. Two boys and one girl. Some with only her friends with Ella occasionally joining the group. A few of Max and Ella then Max with her mom. Some with Ella and their mom. Max's old home, Max eating cookies, Max with wings, Max...I picked up the picture again. How could Max have wings? She wasn't like us, was she? Her lightly brown tinted wings with some white streaks were attached, it looked that way, and her eyes were staring back at me. It seemed so real. What if she was like Iggy, Nudge and I? I frowned slightly. There was the sound of a toilet flushing and Max making disgusted sounds. She came out with the bucket held loosely in her hand. I turned around and held up the picture with my eyebrows raised.

Max's eyes froze for a second then relaxed. "Like it?" she asked flippantly. "I photo shopped it my self." She rolled onto her bed and then reached for something on the other nightstand.

"Photo shop?" I looked back at the picture.

Max rolled back and stood next to me with a different picture in her hands. "Yeah, photo shop." she held it up to me.

Staring back at me was Max, Ella, and their mom. This time they all had wings on them. But there was something wrong but I couldn't quite place it. It just seemed that there was something much more special about Max's wings. "Yours look so much more real."

She threw a sideways glance at me. "I take more time on mine." She looked thoughtfully at the picture and it made me wonder what she was thinking. How stupid am I? Why on Earth would Max have wings? Despite her healing abilities she wasn't a freak. Not like me. No, never. "You know?"

Max is soft tone made my head snap up. "I like wings, I love the idea of flying. It's amazing." She paused for a second and I felt weird thinking about how she might feel if she actually had wings. "I envy birds for being able to be so free." I knew she meant it, it was clear in her voice.

"Me too." I hesitated before adding, "People would think us freaks if we did have wings. Even in our crazy school." Correction, People would think I'm a freak if they knew I _do_ have wings.

Max dropped her self on her bed then turned her head to look at me. "Screw the people," She mumbled. "I don't care what they think. If I have wings then I have wings. People can mind their own business." I looked down at her. Her brown hair was gently framing her face. She looked sweet. I shook my head. "Fang," Her face was serious. "If you ever have wings, tell me. I won't think you're a freak. Just the opposite. I promise." She squeezed my arm for a minute then let go and sat up.

Right then I wanted to show her. I wanted her to see my wings then just pick her up and show her how it is to fly. Being able to feel the wind against your face as you flow in the sky. The free feeling and show her how it was. But I didn't, I couldn't. "Ditto," I smirked.

"Ditto," Max said it as if it were a new word. She went to her closet then took out this amazing black acoustic guitar. The sides were outlined with a silver color and near the end was Max's name with white wings.

"This is Jane," She held the guitar up proudly. "I got her when I turned ten. I'm sorry to say I've never really learned how to play her so she's been lonely. But here," She held her guitar, I mean Jane, out to me. I took Jane gently in my hands. "Now it's time for you to show me your amazing guitar skills. But be gentle I've never even smudged Jane. I know I'm weird for naming all my stuff but it's habit."

I strummed Jane gently then stopped and looked up at Max. "Who are those people in your pictures?"

Max smiled gently. "My friends from California." She pointed to the boy with shaggy hair, "Jaylex." Then to the girl with short blonde hair. "Lisa." She wrinkled her nose and I knew she was thinking of the red haired Lissa. Then to the boy with the shaved head. "And Mikey. They're the only friends I've ever had. That is until I came to Arizona." She lifted her face up and smiled at me. I grinned and her eyes shown with surprise making her smile widen. I felt sad to know she had only had three friends. "The sad thing is, I feel closer to you people then I did them." She looked at Jane and murmured something under her breath that sounded something like, "Especially you."

Something squeezed in my heart but I brushed it off. Then I started the music again.


	8. Jeeeeeeeeb

**Ladadadadadadadaaaa FAX! Oh wait I mean Dylax...HA! Just kidding I hate Dylan!:)... I'm kidding both ways it's not really any of that stuff. Anyway not the best chapter it's more just to fill in some idk just yeah there  
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* * *

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** Max P.O.V**

Sometimes I don't understand why I don't think before I act. It's suppose to be good for you, so I hear. They also say thinking before you speak is good too, how's that possible? Oh, well, but two mess ups is too much for just one day. First, I almost take out my wings and then tell Fang I'm planning to fly in front of him and Iggy. Max, could you get any stupider? Don't answer that, please don't. Then I left out my pictures with my wings on. How could I have forgotten them? Sure, it wasn't like I expected company from Fang or Iggy but Nudge was coming to 'fix me up' with Ella. Of course she would have to go into my room plus, she comments about everything. I need to be smarter.

For lacking my alertness, I'm punishing my self by sitting outside in the quad surrounded by bushes during lunch. I'm not depriving my self of food though, I could never do that. I still have some chocolate chip cookies mom gave me but that's it. Mom had discovered missing tomato soup cans and raisin box and asked me about it. Actually, she suspected because she smelled it from trash. She hadn't been mad at me but promised not to mention anything to Ella. She said if I really hadn't wanted to I could of just said so. It was in the moment type of thing. Hanging out with Fang while I pretended to be sick was much better though. A date with him might have been fun. No, forget I said that. I'm stupid forget it. Let's move on now...

Thinking back to the photograph Fang found then to the one I had shown him. He was right, mine did look more real. That was the fact of the matter, because Mom and Ella's wings were fake, mine are real. The picture hadn't been taken that long ago, the last year or so. When I looked at it it made me feel so alone. Ella looked so much like mom and _she_ didn't have wings. Neither of them had wings. Don't get me wrong, I love my wings and I love flying. I love everything that comes with them. But sometimes I just get so sick of being the only different from everyone, even in Freak High. I get it I'm special! I'm a freak! Big whoop! I just want someone to have wings too. Let them know what it feels like. I want someone to be like me. I hate being the only one. I hated it then because I felt, I still feel, that there's something else that separates me from my family. It's hard to recall mainly because I can't remember anything past seven. It's hard to explain. But when I looked at the photo I felt more alone then ever. So I went online and photo shopped it. When I finished I felt a bit better so now I have this album filled with pictures of friends and mom and Ella with wings on their back. Jaylex and Mikey had thought I was weird for doing that but Lisa had liked it. She said it showed her childish dream of being able to fly. I had just shaken my head because flying is a reality for me. Not a dream.

I had wanted Fang to know that. I wanted to share my secret with him and somehow give him wings for his own. Show him that I wouldn't think him a freak if he had them. To be truthful, a part of me wanted him to say it back and maybe I might have showed him. But he didn't and I didn't he just said ditto. What the heck does that mean anyway? I wanted him to see how it was but oddly I'm not that selfish. The secretiveness, nope not a word I think, and not being able to be like most people wouldn't have been fair.

There were squawking sounds from above. I looked up. Crows were flying in a V shape above the school. I smiled. Fang had played Blackbird by the Beetles on Jane. I recognized it immediately and laughed because it made think of him and how it would be if he had wings. Then he started chirp with his animal mimicry. It was perfect.

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
Take these broken wings and learn to fly  
All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise_

It was great. I looked down and my spirits went down another level. I was about to finish the last cookie I had. Oh, well, better in then waisted. I chewed on my last cookie with a sigh. Delicious cookies are gone and now I have nothing to do. My wings felt cramped and I felt bad that I hadn't gone out to fly ever since that incident the other Monday. What if someone had actually been tailing me? I can't take any chances. I stood up and stretched my self just not the wings. Ha, I would feel bad for the poor kid who ever sees me with my wings out and about. The look on his face would be priceless.

But then I heard a voice that sounded scarily familiar.

"Are you sure? Does it have to be so soon?" I took in a deep breath and let it out. I closed my eyes tight. It couldn't be.

"We have to do the evaluation sooner or at least a practice one for 9th to 12th graders. They're getting restless. We don't think we can get them to calm down." There was a different voice.

A frustrated sigh was let out then, "Do you think the children are ready? I mean it's early in the year. Those things are robotic too. How are they restless?"

I was behind some bushes and a tree. I took in another breath and opened my eyes. I discreetly took a look at the people talking. I turned back and hit my head slightly on the tree...Jeb. I looked back and started to eavesdrop. Don't be surprise, I've never showed Jeb privacy in his conversations.

There was a fat balding man standing next to him. Their backs were slightly turned towards me. "They're half robotic, Batchelder, you know that. Like I said we'll only have the evaluation for the grades above eight. They've had experience they'll be ready and we have to do this soon or who knows what they'll do."

What on are they talking about? And more importantly, what the _hell_ is Jeb doing here? I was about to shift my feet to be more comfortable when suddenly...

"Max?"

And just like that I tripped over my own two feet. Darn, I wasn't even walking. I looked up and saw Fang with an out stretched hand towards me. I scowled at him and took it. He looked at me apologetically.

"Kids!" I hate being called a kid. I turned around to face the balding man. Jeb's eyes grew just a fraction and they looked frozen as they stared at me. "What on Earth are you two doing there?" The man's face was red.

"Looking at roses and daisies, Care to smell them?" There were no flowers near us.

The man made me think of Harry Potter's uncle with almost no hair. Not a very handsome man. "How long have you two been there?" He put his hands on his hips like a scolding nanny. Again, not a pretty picture.

I put my hands behind my back. "Well, I was just walking by when my friend," I shot a severe look at Fang. "Decided it was a good Idea to come and scare me. So, not long." Jeb's eyes narrowed. He knew I was lying, he knew I had been listening. He knew me too well, sadly, he wasn't an idiot.

Mr Dursley, however, proved to be one and simply said, "Run along then. We're having a private conversation." As if we were in preschool.

I faked a smile but only Jeb knew the sting in it. He shook his head slightly and I glared. I pulled Fang away with me and practically dragged him until we were out of anyone's sight. I turned on him. "Okay, What the heck? You have to cut that out!" He gave me a confused look. I rolled my eyes. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Huh? Are you? Okay here," I held my hand as if telling him to stop. "We need a signal or something. Because you have got to stop sneaking up on me." I shook my head.

Fang looked down at me indignantly. "I didn't sneak."

"Yes you did!"

"Saying Max isn't sneaky." Fang crossed his arms over his chest.

The bell rang. "I still say we need a signal."

"How about I yell, hey Max I can see you eavesdropping."

Students started to crowd around us. Uh, oh, claustrophobia you there? It's me, Max. "Uh, that's too loud will talk about it later." Fang shook his head then walked off to the other direction. Everyone started to bump into one another. I rubbed my eyes and stepped out of the crowd. I can't take this anymore. What the heck is Jeb doing here? He leaves, he comes, he makes us move. Yes, it's his fault we always move but this time I hadn't seen him so I didn't think Arizona was his idea this time. He always moves us around California. Which is pretty stupid because that seems like the only reason I see him so he can make us move. I never stayed long enough to make friends. The last time we had moved was to southern California just a month before my birthday. Mom gave me Jane and tried to tell me that what Jeb did was because he knew best. Right, like that's ever true.

I walked to my next class and stopped before entering. Umbridge time.

* * *

_They're gone. They left. I'm all alone now. Those thoughts haunted me as I sat in my small undersized cage. I looked at the smaller cage and tried to catch a sound. There was no one in there. There wasn't a little girl talking. I turned to look at the cage on the left side of the room. I tried to hear the warnings of the blonde boy saying that white coats were coming or hearing him tell stupid jokes. They never came, his cage was just as silent as the other. Then I turned to the cage on the far right. I tried to imagine that dark eyed boy, sitting there with his head against the cage sticking his tongue out at me and grinning slightly. But I couldn't. Because he was gone, gone, gone. They all were and he had promised..._

_ "They'll be back. The white coats just have them for extra examination," The dark eyed boy had said._

_ "But it's been four days," I counted the days by how long it took the white coats to come and get one of us. It was about to be five._

_ "It's something more difficult. They'll be back, you'll see, I promise." There was always another choice but we both wished to ignore it then. He leaned back and stretched his wings as much as he could. It wasn't much. "Go to sleep, please. You'll see, it will be alright."_

_ I had looked around and then found my eyes meeting his again. I had not been able to resist asking him to do that one favor for me. "Don't forget me, okay? No matter what happens."_

_ He gave me a bewildered look then. "Don't talk like that."_

_ "Promise!" There had been desperation in my voice._

_ His dark eyes had glittered with emotion. "I promise."_

_ "Then I promise too." I had meant it. I didn't want to feel that one of us might be gone next but this somehow reassured me. Then it hit me. We had known each other for all our lives but we had never called each other by names. We had never been given names. We just knew each other. "Remember my name; Max. Maximum."_

_ He had thought for a few minutes and finally, "Fa-"_

_ The white coats had come in before he had been able to finish. I had fallen asleep like he had asked. When I woke up, he still hadn't been there._

_ I waited a week. He didn't come back. Neither of them did. After a month the white coats kept moving my cage to different rooms until finally they had moved me to a different area. I knew because they had put me in a van. I hated every move. I hated changing places because they all got worse. They always got worse. But somehow I ended up back to where I had begun, I could tell because of the cages. The only difference was that it seemed that some people had come in looking for something._

_ That was the reason I never saw them again because they kept moving me and now they were probably somewhere else. At least that's what I had thought but now in my new cage I knew it wasn't true. But I couldn't think of any other reason. I wouldn't think of the other reason. I always thought of the boy's name, what he might of wanted to be called. I listened to steps from outside. They were Lazy, fast steps, and when they neared they slowed down. 'Feeding time' I thought snidely. A white coat came in with a tray of food, very little food._

_ He shoved it near my cage. I gave him a blank look and then to the food. I stared at the cage to the right. His cage._

_ "They're gone you know," The white coat thought to state the obvious. I growled but kept staring. "It's true," He gave me a disdainful look. "They just got up and walked off. They left you because they wanted to." It wasn't true, I may have not seen the first to leave but I had seen them take him away. I kept looking at his cage. "You're useless."_

_ "Oh, yeah, and that's why I'm here," I said in a bored tone._

_ "Exactly, You're nothing, you're stupid trash and nobody wants you," His voice had malice in it. This was his favorite game._

_ "Is that what they told you before they threw you in the Dumpster?" He kicked my cage so hard it sent it tumbling with me in it, of course. When it stopped I shook my head. "The others will be hearing about this."_

_ He gave me a mocking look. "Didn't you hear? Nobody cares about you. You're only an experiment. A freak." I spat at him but he dodged it. "Watch it Max. You know what could happen." With that he walked off and closed the door with a loud Bang._

_ "I know," I whispered. "Don't worry I know." Then I thought back to the boy. I was keeping my promise, was he? I thought about the name and came to a decision. It fit, I didn't know how, it just did. Fa-_

I didn't know what woke me up but I was glad. Looking around, I realized it was still dark out. I buried my face between my pillows again. I do not remember ever having a dream like that before. Honestly, I don't. But I didn't like it, it showed exactly how I felt most of the time; like a freak, alone, and useless. At least sometimes...Those dreams were so annoying I didn't know how to get rid of them. I laid there on my bed listening to the silence and then suddenly had the urge to get a drink of water. I got up and walked out of my room, going down the steps through the hall. I was about to go down the stairs that lead to the living room when I heard the voices in the not-as-silent-as-I-thought night.

"I can't believe you brought her here! What were you thinking? They're still looking for her, Valencia. That was why they set the school up, to find her! Not that everyone is aware of that but there are a few." My thoughts were still jumbled together, I didn't really understand what the voices were saying but that one sounded familiar. Then with a groan I realized again who it was. _'Jeb. Darn he's just every where!' _My thoughts went from sleepy to annoyed.

"They don't know she has wings and the girls deserve a place where they can fit in." Oh, man, Jeb's talking to my mom. I shook my head.

"Is Max fitting in? Is she? Because I don't think she is. No matter how hard you or she may try she won't find anyone else quite like her," shut up, Jeb, just shut up. Oh, wait, did he say Max? I'm Max. I turned my head to take a look. Jeb was standing there looking frustrated while my mom was just standing there looking at him rubbing her head.

"She's doing better than at any of the other schools you've taken her to. What do you think she'll do? Snap her wings out in front of everyone and start flying? Max hasn't flown in days!" Uh, go mom?

Jeb shook his head. "How long do you think that will last? You know Max. She had no self control." Oh, yeah?

I walked lightly down a few steps and openly showed I was there. "Well, if you were smart at all, Jeb, you'd restrain yourself from talking about me when I'm not around." Two startled faces looked up at me. "Could you leave? I would enjoy some time without having to see your weird looking face." I glared.

Jeb shook his head and swiped his coat off the couch then headed towards the door. Before he got out though he looked at me. "Try not to do anything stupid while you're here, Max." His tone softened but I never listened to him.

"I'll see what I can do," I said sweetly but he knew it wasn't meant that way. He closed the door after him. I looked at my mom. "Night." I walked back to my room without any water.

Right, like I'm going back to sleep after _that_.

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**Umm, I don't really like it and it doesn't really make sense but yeah...-_- you'll see it helps for the later parts.:) Oh and sorry for spelling mistakes...**


	9. New friend, new ability?

**Okay, so to answer most of your questions about when are they going to find out about the wings? It won't be for a while because I have this all planned and mapped out so I can't make it so soon or it will mess the story up AND I will mess up. It'll also be confusing. So you're going to have to hold on to your hats and wait a while. Okay now that that's over with, **

**Yodie: It's time:)**

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**Max P.O.V**

A week passed and I didn't hear from Jeb ever since that day. Another few days and I almost felt sure that I wouldn't be hearing from him anymore but then again, he's Jeb. He was the least of my worries right now though. Iggy had put a timed firecracker type of thing beside the Spanish teacher desk where you couldn't see it. It was set off to go just a few minutes after class had started and was supposed to only send a few sparks off and dissipate a ton of smoke to set the sprinklers of the school off so we could miss the rest of the school day or at least a few more classes, according to Iggy. He told me about it after the event had been done with. The results, though, were much worse then expected. The Firecracker timer had definitely set off a bunch of sparks but then after only a second or two it has dispersed into flames that caught onto the teachers desk then started to burn around the classroom. The window was open and it went outside. After that, everything had happened so suddenly and differently from everything else that I was left confused. The sprinklers delayed for a second but in that time Lissa had gotten up from her desk and collected the fire that surrounded Mr. Randolf It was amazing. She did all of that just before the sprinklers went off. It had all build up into a big fireball on her hands and when the water came, she just held it up so the fire would go away. People started to run out of the classroom. Lissa stayed in though, She moved the fire from the walls and everywhere closer to where the water was so it would disappear faster. When that job was done she climbed out the window to collect the fire outside.

Almost everyone was out, and I was just about to walk out when I saw Mr. Randolf on the floor, he was in pain. I ran over to him and slid on the floor beside him. His shirt had been burned on the left side and his whole arm was a big gush, it was close to a third degree burn, but looked more like crumbled Jello. Panic was sent through me. I set my hand on his arm, it was wet making it less painful to the touch but he had still tried to move away, until he realized what I was doing. His skin started to return back to normal. His face that had been contorted in pain started to relax slightly. I knew that the healing process for this was more painful but it would be worth it in the end. He took in deep breaths as I moved my hand around. I talked to him if not to relax him but to get over the overbearingness that had come over me. When it was done I helped him up and we walked out of the classroom and headed out the school. I noticed Dylan collect the water with Brigid right behind him turning it into ice so she could "carry it." I found Iggy, with a scowling look on my face, as he told me that it was him and what it was supposed to do, I stayed with him outside.

"I'm in so much trouble, Max," Iggy grimaced looking at the place.

"You think?" I shook my head and remembered Mr. Randolf wriggling on the floor in pain. I scowled all over again.

He shook his head, "No, I'm in much more trouble. No one has ever gotten hurt. You know what could have happened to Mr. Randolf if you hadn't been there? We even had Lissa! That was just luck." He started massaging his forehead. "I'm so screwed."

I looked at him and knew more than anyone that he hadn't meant for all that to happen. Then I made a quick decision. None of my friends were about to get in trouble. "No you're not." I stalked off to where Mr. Randolf and the principal were talking.

Iggy called after me, "Max! What are you doing?" I ignored him.

Standing there just behind, I squeezed a bit of water from my hair. It was just barely beginning to dry. I coughed to get their attention. They turned to look at me. "It was me," I said.

They just stared at me. Then they both stared behind me and I knew they were looking at, or for, Iggy. Mr. Randolf turned to me, "Listen, Max it's nice of you to be doing this for Mr. Griffith but we can handle this."

I gave him a confused look. I'm an expert in lying. "What do you mean?" I gave him time to choose his words. But I knew he knew what I was doing. There was a small softening in his eyes and I didn't normally get that type of understanding from others. Then something darkened in his eyes and they turned sad.

The principal looked at me weirdly. "We know it was Mr. Griffith."

I shook my head. "No, it was me." Then I proceeded to explain what had happened by carefully leaving Iggy out of it and putting my self in his place. "And if it was, um, Mr. Griffith," I said turning to look the Spanish teacher straight in the eyes. "I don't think he would have made the mistake I did." I was telling him in my own way that it was an accident and that Iggy hadn't meant for all of it to happen without actually saying it or without actually saying anything about Iggy. At the same time, I was challenging him to question my story.

The principal looked behind me again, and sighed heavily. "Mr. Randolf you can assign an appropriate punishment." He walked away and I knew by his tone that he had better things to do then argue with me about what I had said. I had told a convincing story but he still didn't believe it was me, he didn't have much to do. As I watched him walk away. I saw Brigid and Dylan coming out of the school. Brigid held ice in her hands and it seemed that it was going into her. Dylan was in the same position only with water. Then Lissa had come from around the school with fire. They combined everything together and it evaporated into steam. It was something I never saw before but that was what I liked about Freak High, it was different.

That was a a day or two ago. Now Mr. Randolf, had finally come to a decision. My 'punishment' was to be moved away from Iggy to the other side of the classroom and to make a small speech of how our abilities helped us in these occasions in Spanish( no duh). Iggy, of course, would help me do this. It was our agreement, he practically fell to his knees in front of me when he heard what I did. It was weird...then he started saying that he was forever in my debt. I'm pretty sure he was kidding but I still smacked him upside the head and told him at the moment all he had to do was help me with the speech.

I walked into Spanish class and the teacher pointed to my new seat next to a girl that I had never talked to before, mainly because I spent most of my time with Iggy in that class and the other reason was that she seemed kind of shy but she seemed to have a liking to animals. I had caught her that day I had sat out on lunch feeding some squirrels and had some birds around her that were eating bread pieces that she had set out for them. It surprised me that they hadn't run away from her like most animals did to people.

I set my backpack down and pulled out my chair. She was scribbling on her notepad, or so I thought. I took a small glance and saw that she was drawing a small dove flying. I smiled and sat down.

She looked up sharply. "Hey," I adjusted my jacket. My wings felt restless. I didn't go out to fly. It was mostly just to show Jeb that I do have self control even though he wasn't there.

"Hi," She looked at me carefully. I lifted my eyes to hers to be able to talk to well if that's what she wanted. I had a moment of surprise before I said anything. Her eyes were amazing, one eyes was brown and the other was slightly hazel but mostly green. These were definitely the coolest pair of eyes I had ever seen. Her eyelids flickered down and I shook my head.

"They change colors now and again," Her voice was soft, she was shy. "From green to brown but they're initially hazel."

I nodded. "They're cool." She looked back at me and a small smile tugged at the side of her mouth. "It's Zelda right?" I held my hand out, just like Sam had when I had met him.

She took it and replied, "Wells."

"Oh, that's a funny name. No offense, really, I just never met someone with the name Wells before. But yeah, Wells, it's cool name. Anyway, so Wells-" I was cut off by her laughter.

It only lasted a few seconds but when she stopped laughing she shook her head. "No, Wells is my last name."

"Oh, that makes sense." Max is very special.

She glanced at her notepad and then said, "You're Max, right?"

"Yup," I looked at her notepad. "So, what are you drawing?" I asked even though I already knew what.

"I'm sketching a dove. I saw him flying this morning. We started talking and I asked him if I could sketch him flying. He let me so now I'm just finishing a few details." She sketch a few lines and then set it down on the desk.

"You asked him?"

She nodded, "I can speak to animals." Oh. The things people can do here. She was still talking a bit soft but she was talking more. She was starting to come out of her shell. Oh, wow, Max, the comparisons I say.

I smiled at her and she grinned a little then started to listen to Mr. Randolf. I did the same. I needed to know all the Spanish I could to come up with the speech. After a while of taking notes he put us to work in our workbooks.

She worked quickly. "So," I said conversation like. "What do you usually do in your free time?"

Still working she answered, "Read, write, draw and I hang around some animals sometimes. They're fun to be around." She looked up to give me a smile and then looked back down.

"What do you do during lunch?"

"Oh, um," She stopped to think, wrote something down and put her pencil down. "I sit outside of the lunch area and sometimes some squirrels, birds, and an occasional bunny or something else comes by to eat with me. Sometimes, they even let me draw them and stuff. I'm more of a loner I guess but I like being with animals outside then with a crowd of people most of the time." I looked at her thoughtfully. Her hair was black, long, wavy and framed her face gently. She wore what looked like straight leg jeans and had a colorful graphic tee. I had read what it said earlier and it made me smile. It said, "You may think I'm crazy..." in the front and in the back, "But I am only a fruit loop in a world of cheerios." She seemed pretty smart, She had corrected me often enough but they were mostly obvious mistakes and as I've learned; she's taking Trigonometry._**(a/n a little too smart?)**_ I've been meeting a lot of smart people lately.

I looked back at her and saw that she was almost done with the assignment. "Wanna eat lunch with me today?"

Zelda looked up surprised. She looked around a bit with her eyes. "With your friends?"

"Yeah, Fang, JJ, Ella, Justin, Iggy, and Nudge. The whole group," She looked uneasy so I thought to add, "It's okay if you rather just stick to your own thing, though."

She thought for a minute. "Well, the squirrels will probably..." She shook her head as if clearing it. "Yeah, Okay." She smiled.

"You're in my Bio class right?" She nodded. "Okay so we'll walk there together. If you change your mind it's okay." Just in case she just wasn't completely sure.

"I won't."

I went back to working until the bell rang. I've been getting better at making friends than I have before.

* * *

I told Fang and JJ to go on to lunch without me, I would catch up. Ever since I had started to eat lunch with the group, the three of us would walk together to our lunch area. I turned around to face the desk a few seats away and immediately caught Zelda's eye. She froze slightly, looked out the window, then back at me with a shy smile. I knew it meant she had chosen to sit with us. She walked up to me and shrugged slightly. Once we were out of the classroom we started talking. One new thing that I learned was: Zelda definitely preferred being with animals instead of humans. I thought for a second, wondering if Nudge and Ella might scare her off. It wasn't really likely, she was shy not antisocial. I looked down at the ground at my feet. That's what I usually did, it kept me from noticing the ton of people surrounding me.

"You know," Zelda had started talking more. "I'm surprised Sam started ignoring you."

I looked up, and sweat broke out on my forehead at the sight of realizing how much limited space we had in the halls. I looked back down. "Mm? Why?" After I had avoided the date and hadn't rescheduled, Sam ignored me the next week and ever since. I think he was offended, oh well.

"Sam's an ass," I looked up sharply. I hadn't been expecting her to say something like that. Err in that way. "He's a player. He always goes for the new girls because they don't know him. He seems nice at first but he's awful not to mention annoying. Dylan is almost as bad for helping him. I can't believe they're popular."

I contemplated this then said, "They're not and if they are it doesn't mean anything." I shook my head and mentally kicked myself for even saying yes to Sam.

We were almost to the lunch area and I felt my stomach getting ready to growl. We were a few feet away. "I guess maybe so many girls like them because they're two of the best looking guys in the whole school, so I hear. I don't really look at shallow people."

"That's good because if you give shallow people too much attention they'll just be even more conceited." We stopped just before the doors.

"I like how you don't care about how many stares you get and how you just ignore them." She said suddenly with a sideways glance.

I was about to open when I realized what she said. "What stares?" I just looked at her.

"You can't be that oblivious." She said with a kind smile.

I just stared at her.

Zelda frowned and then put one hand on her hip. "You haven't noticed the jealous glares you've been getting? Or how ever since people heard about how you blew Sam off, a few more guys have been staring at you?"

Uh...What did she just say? "No, they haven't." I scrunched up my nose as if I smelled something bad. She just rolled her eyes. I pushed the doors open and what we saw met us with surprise.

Fang was throwing a punch at Sam and it almost knocked him completely over, with blood coming out of his nose. Sam went for Fang and then they started a whole fight only, just like the fire, this was different from any other fight. When Fang aimed to tackle him Sam used his ability to make him slipped through him almost falling flat on his face. Fang disappeared then landed a right hook on Sam. Dylan than thought it would be a good time to join. He blasted water through his hands at Fang and it sent him knocking into one of the tables. He went slightly limp but then started to get up. I turned to stare at Dylan and that was just when Iggy tackled him from behind and started to wrestle with him on the floor. Fang charged towards Sam but Sam was prepared again this time and sent him through but grabbing his arm and twisting. Fang tried elbowing him with his other but it was with strain. I saw Iggy trying to fight with Dylan but I knew he was in a disadvantage because his only power was to see through things.

Then I realized I was just standing there looking like an idiot and not interfering. Sam was getting ready to slam Fang's head onto the ground. "Fuc-" I broke into a run. The stupid idiot, who the hell did he think he was? "Get off of him!" I grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him off of Fang. Then he made the most ear wrenching scream I had ever heard.

Everyone in the lunch room went silent. I let go of Sam and he fell on his knees holding on to his arm. It was bleeding. Dylan stopped fighting with Iggy and Fang sat there with his eyes wide. There were long, deep, slashes on Sam's arm where I had touched him. I stayed frozen, just staring, my hands were wet. I looked down at them and saw that they had blood. Sam's blood. His eyes were closed and he was breathing hard. I dropped beside him and touched his arm again. Feeling remorseful, I hoped it wouldn't make it worse. It didn't, his wounds started to heal.

Sam opened his eyes and just stared at me. When it was done he pulled his arm away. "What did you do?" His voice was low, disbelieving, with a small tone of fright.

"I don't know," My voice was just barely a hushed whisper. Then, for the first time since the second day of school where people found out I could heal, I felt and noticed the stares people were giving me. Their eyes were all wide. This was all overwhelming, it felt as if everything was closing. It all got to be too much. I turned on my heels and then started running. I heard steps behind me. I burst out of the schools doors. Everything was blurring, my head started pounding with blood, my wings felt more cramped then ever. I wasn't watching where I was going and tripped over a rock. I breathed hard and started to pick my self up.

"Max." Fang grabbed my shoulder.

I recoiled. "Don't touch me!" Fang looked at me with disbelief, as if he didn't know who I was. I felt bad for doing it but the look he gave me hurt.

"Max," His voice softened but I didn't want pity.

"I'm a freak." Shaming away, I whispered, "Leave me alone. I need to be alone." Fang just stared at me his eyes filled with an unreadable emotion that made them look darker than usual. I broke into a run again but I didn't hear any footsteps behind me. He wasn't following.

When I finally reached the woods and was in far enough. I took off my jacket. My wings burst open.

I jumped into the air and started to fly.

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**I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Yodie, I'm sorry if the character said anything you would not want them to say but other than that I hoped you liked it(: **

**So...what's next...you'll see ;)**


	10. Missing

**Okay, so in the last Chapter I forgot to thank you Yodie for the idea on Max's power...So now I say: Thank you. Another thing because my slow friend that "reviewed" my story: It is supposed to be obvious that the person in Max's dreams is Fang...just in case you didn't catch on. One more thing before I continue on, After I update the chapter after this one; I'll be updating slower because I'm starting school on Wednesday. I'll try not to go over a week. So, thank you and now let's get on with the story**

** Fang P.O.V**

Max didn't come back to school for the rest of the day. When she started running again she hadn't turned back. I knew she wouldn't, she probably went home. The look in her eyes was filled with terror at what she had done to Sam, her face had completely paled. I knew what she had been thinking but when she said it out loud it hurt to see her that way. _I'm a freak_. She wasn't though,she just didn't realize it. If she thought she was a freak, what would she think if she knew Iggy, Nudge, and I had wings? I shook my head. It was midnight and I was sitting on my bed. I couldn't get any sleep. Max hadn't tried talking to me at all. Not that I thought she would call, I didn't know what to expect from her. The best that I could guess was that she was just ignoring everyone.

This wasn't like the Max I knew, though, she wasn't the confident Max I knew. It was a side of her I never saw before. Then I thought back to Sam. That freaking shit, it was all his fault. Like he really didn't expect me to hit him after what he said about Max. Yeah, right...

_Flashback_

_ "It's not like she really blew you off," Dylan had said. I was standing only a few feet away and their voices were loud and obnoxious, like always._

_ "You're right. I mean, Max does seem kind of like a bitch sometimes. She didn't even try to make amends, it is kind of refreshing," When I heard Max's name I stopped right behind him. "Maybe I'll give her another try. She'll be worth the wait, fine little thing like her." The little snake laughed at his own joke._

_ "Watch your mouth, Sam," I spat._

_ The both of them turned around Sam's eyes slightly widened and then a sneer appeared on his face. Dylan just glared at me. "Aw, what's wrong Fangy? Don't like anyone talking about your little Maxie?" Dylan scoffed._

_ "She's no ones little Maxie," My voice held menace in it._

_ Sam flinched at my tone but Dylan just kept glaring at me. Sam then said,"You can have her when I'm done. Though it won't be for a while-" That's when I punched him._

_End of flashback._

"Bastard," I cursed at the memory. My phone rang and for an instant just before I answered it I hoped it was Max. It wasn't, it was Ella.

"Fang?" She sounded worried and close to tears.

I sat up. "What's wrong?"

She sniffled. "You haven't happened to heard from Max have you?"

"No, why?" Panic took grip of my heart.

There was silence on the other end. "Ella?" She coughed and in a hushed voice she said, "She never came home, Fang. We don't know where she is. I've looked everywhere for her!" She started to get hysterical. "She's never done this before! I mean she has but she always leaves something to tell us where she went. But now, nothing! You ran after her after what happened with Sam! Didn't she say anything to you?" Her voice kept getting higher.

"Ella, calm down," I said even though there was a storm starting up in me. "No, she didn't," It irritated me that she didn't. "Don't worry, I'll go out to find her."

"Right now?" She said in a bewildered tone.

"Yes, Right now!" I hung up the phone and out it in my pocket. I opened my bedroom window then jumped out, snapping my wings out. The little idiot, where the hell did she go off to?

** Third Person P.O.V**

Valencia Martinez had no idea where her daughter was but with every minute that passed she started to grow more than worried. Ella had told her what had happened that day but she had thought Max would just shut her self in her room refusing to talk to everyone. When she didn't come back she was started thinking that maybe _they_ had gotten her. She couldn't take it anymore, she picked up the phone and called Jeb.

"Hello?" The voice was tired, it was nearing two in the morning.

"Jeb, Max is missing."

Jeb was more alert this time. "What do you mean she's missing? Where did she go?"

"I don't know! If I did I wouldn't have called you at this time in the morning!" She moved around with the cordless phone. "What if they have her?"

"Trust me, Valencia, if they had her, they would have called everyone and would be celebrating right now. She probably went off on her own, she's done more reckless things before," His tone was so sure that she wasn't caught.

"Okay," She was still uneasy but she bade him goodbye and hung up.

Where was she?

** Still third person P.O.V**

Fang had stayed out all night trying to find Max. He couldn't help but think that, despite her abilities, she might have gotten hurt. He risked letting her see his wings by swooping down low, going up high, landing where ever he thought she might be. Fang didn't find her anywhere and he went home feeling like a failure for some reason. All he could think about the whole time was Max and falling asleep in his biology class. JJ had to keep poking him to stay awake. As for Sam and Dylan as punishment for what happened, the two of them and Fang had to serve a week of after school detention. The school rarely gave out harsh punishments. They made up for it in the evaluation. The bell rang to signal the end of class, making a half asleep Fang wake up. He shook his head and stood up gathering his stuff. Zelda Wells had been eying him for a few minutes from across the room.

Zelda finally came up to him. "Have you heard anything from Max?"

Fang looked up startled. He had known Zelda for a year and counting, she had never come up to someone just to chat. He knew that Max had befriended her the other day a few classes before she ran off but he didn't believe Zelda had intentionally wanted to be befriended by anyone. "How did you find out about Max?"

"Other than the fact that she hasn't been back since lunch yesterday, Ella and Nudge found my number and called at almost one in the morning," She had no idea how they managed to find her number but she suspected that Nudge hacked into the school's information system and hacked into Zelda's file. "So, anything?"

Fang's eyes darkened. "Nothing."

Zelda felt disappointed and watched Fang turn around and leave. Max had been really nice the other day to her, she felt bad about what had happened. Max was probably freaking out about it, she probably had no idea what had happened. It was too bad, Zelda had actually looked forward to hanging with Max and her friends. Zelda walked out side to where she usually sat. From far she saw a few birds coming and got out a few pieces of bread. She dropped them onto the grass for them to enjoy. Then something chirped from behind her.

Zelda turned around to see a small white dove land on a tree that was a foot or two away. "Hi, Roger."

The bird looked around. _"Hello, Zelda."_

"How are you doing?" She sat down and leaned against the tree. She looked up at the sky and wondered what it felt like to fly.

Roger flew down in front of her._ "Quite well, although, I was attacked by a crazy Hawk the other day. That was about more than nine miles away I think. Something scared it away and I'm fine __though. I have to say; more than fine."_

Zelda inspected him. "Where did he get you?"

_"Sadly, it was a she. She clawed me on my right wing."_

Zelda didn't see a cut not even a scratch. In fact, he looked better than he had the day before. "I don't see any injuries on you."

Roger chirped happily. _"A miracle saved me from that fate."_

"I'm glad miracles work for you," Zelda sighed thinking back to Max. "I'm still waiting on one. My friend is missing."

_"Really? What does your friend look like? Maybe I've seen her."_

"Well, her name is Max," The dove's head snapped up. "She has brown hair, with some sun streaks in it, I think. It's half way down her back. A bit tanned, I wonder how that happened. She's always wearing a jacket or long shirts. Um, her eyes are this kind of creamy brown-"

_"Say no more,"_ Roger interrupted. _"Does your friend's full name happen to be Maximum Ride?"_

Zelda looked up at him sharply. "How do you know?" She couldn't imagine Max talking to an animal but then she thought...he said he had been attacked by a Hawk, a miracle happened. Max was the miracle! She had healed him. Zelda jumped up. "Where is she, Roger? Everyone's worried!"

Flapping his wings, Roger flew higher. For a minute, Zelda thought he would just leave but then he said, _"We need to talk about something."_ He looked around. _"In a more private area."_ They started to move but then he stopped. _"You can't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you."_ She nodded. He started to lead the way again with Zelda right behind him.

Twenty minutes later, Zelda put up a lunch sack so Roger could grab it. "Is that too heavy?"

_"I can handle it."_ The dove swooped down a little but was determined. He flapped his wings hard and then started to rise. Zelda watched him go.

Fang saw Zelda give the small dove the lunch pack and went over. "Don't you think that's a little heavy for him?"

Still looking at the bird, she answered, "He's alright." Then she looked at Fang. "Tell Ella, Max is alright. She just wants to be alone." Then she looked at Roger who was just fading from her sight.

Fang looked at her urgently. "Where is she? How do you know?"

"I'm not sure," Zelda said, Roger was gone now. "And I can't tell you, Fang."

"Zelda!"

She shook her head. "I can't, but she's okay. She's okay, Fang. She doesn't want to be found." Zelda turned on her heel.

"How do you know?" Fang called after her.

Zelda kept walking away. She had a secret she couldn't tell anyone. It wasn't her secret to tell.

**Ah! Okay yeah, I know, it's a short chapter but Angel Gone Bad threatened me! Ha, ha just kidding! I just had this idea and couldn't let go of it so it's out sooner. Maybe I'll add another chapter after the next but I'm not sure. Let's just see where this takes us...:) Hope you liked this chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11 bleh

**If you didn't notice I reply to reviews through Pm's if you have an account if not I answer here. Just a small FYI:) So, check your in boxes if you've been waiting for an answer. :) Oh but I will answer **ObsessiveReader1223's question: No they don't and you'll have to keep reading to find out(:

**Max P.O.V**

Flying high over the trees of the forest, I realized how really secluded this area was. It took me a few miles to get here and I would have gone farther if it hadn't been for the small dove that was being attacked by that Pm Sing hawk. It was like a bitch slap attack only hawk style. Poor thing didn't deserve it. I looked at the horizon and realized it was getting darker. I flew down to the more protected area of the woods. This was a perfect place to live. I could stay here forever. I stretched then lied down on my tummy. There was a rustling in the trees but I was already used to it by now.

There came a small dove flying down near me as expected. He was holding a sack lunch between his small clawed feet. I raised my self up on my elbows. "You know, this is starting to get a little weird," I told him eying the sack lunch. "Where are you stealing this stuff from?"

The dove chirped indignantly and dropped the bag on top of my head. I landed with a loud thump and slid off. "Ow, sorry," I rubbed my head. "If you're not stealing this stuff, where the hell is it coming from? Is someone just packing you a lunch to take here?"

He chirped the affirmative. I looked at him in disbelief. He flew around my head once then tipped over the contents of the bag. Out came different selections of food in small ziploc bags. The dove then lifted the paper bag up which read, _Roger._

I looked at him. "Is that your name?" He chirped once. In the afternoon when he came back with the first sack lunch we established that one chirp meant yes and two chirps meant no. "Well, thanks for sharing with me, Roger." I took out some noddles when he landed in front of me and fed him. "You're really strong, you know. It must take you nine miles to get here, well, basing it that it's that far from the nearest building."

Roger bobbed his head happily as I fed him noodles with one hand. I held a chocolate chip cookie with my other hand. Chocolate chip cookies, what a coincidence. "So, before you came I was thinking that maybe I should just stay here. Live here, maybe not forever but close to-Ow!" I took my hand back.

Roger bit my finger, his small beak marks were on it. I wasn't an expert in reading animals' expressions but I could tell he was scowling at me. I could just tell. Roger then proceeded to make high screeching noises as if it were a scolding bird mom. Huh, funny, that would explain my wings. **(a/n get it? Oh never mind.) **

I held my hands up as if warding of an attacker. "Jeez, okay I get it. You don't think I should," I took a cookie. "It was just a thought." He seemed to be giving me a wary look but then proceeded to pick at the noodles. I looked up at the clear sky. The good thing about being far from human civilization at night is that you can actually see the stars. The last of the sun finally dissapeared past the trees and I was free to see millions and millions of stars beginning to sprinkle the night. Roger and I ate the rest of the food. The other day when Roger began bringing the food here a few small animals came to share the food with us. None of them showed up this time, it was normal though. Other than Roger I didn't see any others out and about when it begins to be dark.

I grabbed the pieces of trash and headed for the half cave I found the other night. It was a half cave, I guess, it didn't go any deeper then ten feet and was only about a foot higher than my head. I grabbed my I-pod out of my pocket and turned it on. It was my only source of light. I found my jacket near the ground then picked up to put it on. It was the only thing other than the clothes on me already and my I-pod that I had with me. It was a cold out side and the jacket didn't do much. It was nearing winter, did it snow in Arizona?** (a/n does it? Lol ill have to check)** I went to the back of the cave and laid on my side. Roger took his place on the small next I helped him make after his morning breakfast trip.

"Roger?" I tapped the I-pod, making light shine in the cave. I saw him raise his head. "I'll be staying here for a while." He chirped twice. "Not for long I promise but I just have to be away from everyone, as in people, for a while." I tapped again in time to see him cock his head to the side in a confused manner. "I have to get control of this power or what ever it is." He sang a short soft tune as if to reassure me. I shook my head. "You don't understand, you didn't hear him. You didn't see the way people were staring at me." I closed my eyes and saw the blood. I heard Sam scream all over again. "The fear on their faces." I groaned.

I turned on to my stomach. "You have to help me." He chirped once but it was insecure. He wasn't sure how I expected him to do that. It was pretty simple. "Get me mad. Find a bear or something and make him come after me. I need to get my self under control." He didn't answer. "I'll be okay. I can heal remember? And I have wings. I can handle it." There was only silence. The darkness started to deepen.

One chirp.

* * *

**Fang POV**

One week passed and Max still had not returned. With each minute that passed I got even more frustrated and angry then I already was. I got angrier with each passing day, mentally kicking my self for letting Max go off on her own. What if she was hurt? Even Zelda's words that she was safe didn't do much except add to my frustration. I kept asking her where Max was but she insisted that she didn't know. I didn't believe her. I took it upon my self to invade her privacy during lunch and sit near by scrutinizing her until she cracked. Zelda was obviously one of those people who would take secrets to the grave, she wasn't an egg. **(a/n you know 'cause eggs crack easily?sorry too many notes)**

Honestly, I didn't know why I cared so much. I've known Max for what? About two months? But somehow she was really important to me. Before I met her I felt as if there had been some one missing from my life that had once been there but fell out. When Max came into the picture, I felt as if that missing person had been found again. Now that she wasn't here anymore I felt that empty space again.

There was also something strange about Zelda's lunch routine. There would be a dove coming by and she'd give him a sack lunch to take. I started having suspicions that maybe the bird knew where Max was. Maybe he was taking the food to her. My suspicions were confirmed today.

I was sitting behind the tree where Zelda was. She didn't appear to know I was there. I wouldn't think she would know seeing as I was invisible at that moment and barely moving or making a sound. I looked to the corner of my eye and saw that bird again.

He chirped at Zelda. "Hey Roger," she answered. The bird, Roger, chirped again. "No, I don't think he's around but Fang isn't really the type to give up." The bird 'said' something to her. "Not many people can understand animals, haven't you noticed?" Roger squawked indignantly and Zelda laughed. "I was only kidding. So, what's up? How is she?"

My ears perked up. Zelda's side of the conversation would at least give me some information. Zelda stayed silent listening to what ever the bird was telling her. "A bear?" She asked. My pulse sped up. "Is she all right?" I waited tensely until Zelda giggled, "Oh, poor thing. She didn't hurt him too much did she?" Guessing that Max was the she, it seemed the bear had been hurt and not the other way around. I relaxed.

Zelda listened for a moment to the bird before I heard her stand up. I turned my head slightly to see her hold up the lunch. "How long until she returns?" The bird chirped an answer. "I hope it's soon, then." The bird took hold of the sack and flew. He knew where Max was. I could easily follow him.

"Fang," Zelda's voice startled me. How did she know? "Don't follow him, okay? One, we still have school. Two, you wouldn't have a way to follow him." That's what she thought. "And three, remember what I told you? She wants to be alone. Max just needs time she'll be back soon."

I stayed invisible and she stalked off. I could easily just ignore the first two reasons she gave me but not the last one. If Max wanted to be alone then I'd let her be alone even though in the inside I just wanted to jump up flying trying to find her. Out of what I knew about Max, was that she could do some pretty stupid things. I shook my head trying not to think about how Max could have encountered a bear. Max? Where the hell are you?

* * *

**Okay I hate this chapter I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! It's basically just a fill in chapter and I know very short.**

**I'm sorry for not updating sooner but it's really hard when I have school work following me everywhere I go. AHH! THERE'S SOME MORE! I'm just not used to this -.- Honor's classes with three regular classes and an AP class! Come on I'm just a freshman! X( Did I mention that my honors english teacher doesn't go a day without giving us homework?**

**Anyway enough of my excuses...-.- If you want me to update faster then you'll have to settle with short chapters (though certainly not as short as this one) If that's okay with you people of course if not then you'll have to be patient. I'm just starting to get used to this work load. If you're fine with short chapters as long as they come quickly then tell me so I know. I'll be happy to oblige. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter better than I did.**


	12. Back

**Two chapters in one day? What? Well I updated the last one in the very early morning (around five in the morning, I didn't get any sleep) So yeah here.**

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

The bear took a swipe at me with his paw. I just barely dodged it and then jumped up on top of him. I dug deep into his fur then grabbed on to the first piece of flesh I found. He roared in pain. The bear grabbed me from behind and flung me away making me slam into one of the trees.

I fell down to the bottom of the trunk. The bear roared and started to rear up. I waved my hands wildly in front of me. "Okay, okay! That's enough!" He stood on to legs looking at me then got back down on all fours. I laid back down and felt my leg that he broke slamming me against the tree heal, along with every other part of my body that was injured. "Jeez, what the hell?" The bear made a whiny noise making me roll my eyes. "I know. I told you we were going to fight rough today. It's not your fault." I patted the space near me. "Come here."

The bear obediently came to sit near me. "Where does it hurt?" He showed me and I saw a bit of blood coming from his shoulder.

His name's Vinnie. Yeah, I named him. Roger said he didn't have an actual name, how ever that works, so I named off some until we finally came to a name Vinnie liked. The day after Roger agreed to help me take control of my ability we went searching for something for me to fight in the woods. We were in luck. We came across a part we never came to before and a huge bear started coming after us. I thought the bears in Arizona were only supposed to be four feet tall on two feet but he was a great bigger than that and he was certainly more aggressive than any black bear should be. We began to fight quickly after that but when he saw my wings he got freaked out and started trying to completely rip me apart. It wasn't until I finally was able to reach his flesh underneath the huge coat of fur that he got scared and tried to move away from me. I felt bad for him when it was all over so I went over and cured him. He scampered off but then came back to find us the next day. He was a loner but he wasn't a complete brute. He was probably mad because we came to his territory but I wasn't sure.

Vinnie helped us find a few wolves that were terrorizing some of the animals around here. Surprisingly, I was more afraid of the wolves than anything I had ever encountered. I learned I didn't like them. I was afraid of them, completely terrorized but I didn't know why and that made me dislike them even more. I wasn't as kind to them as I was to Vinnie. The other animals in the forest didn't seem to care much for them either. After that encounter it was agreed that it would only be combat against Vinnie and I. We never went to rough but today was a special occasion. I was going home tomorrow. It would be Wednesday. Plus, I remembered something. The evaluation. It was next week and missing or now missing I knew I'd have to participate. The week before I left they said I would have to take the evaluation even though I was new. I shook my head.

"Okay, come on let's go find you some dinner," I stood up and started walking with Vinnie trotting along next to me. There was a river somewhere not very close but near enough from here. Vinnie showed it to us after the third day and taught me how to fish with my bare hands. "Roger, will be back soon with lunch. We can practice more later." Vinnie made a sound that sounded like a groan. I laughed.

* * *

_***Next Day ***_

I stood by Vinnie looking up at the sky. We stood there for a while waiting until we finally saw what we wanted. Roger came flying down then stopped just above me. "Are they gone now?" He nodded. I looked from him to Vinnie. I patted Vinnie's head. "Well, I guess it's time to go now." I spread my wings wide but something nudge me from behind. It was Vinnie, he let out a small whimper. He had his own set of Bambi eyes on. They were futile this time. I had to go home. I turned and hugged him tightly. "I'll come back," I whispered. "I promise." When I let go I my wings spread again and I started to fly. I waved bye and then continued on home. Where ever that was.

When I got home I changed out of my clothes and took a shower. Then I just put on a fresh pair of clothes, grabbed my back pack and left. I took a chance flying to school and landed in the woods near by. I walked the rest of the way. Hi, Freak High. I'm back.

* * *

**Fang P.O.V**

I kept a close eye to Zelda but what I heard three days ago was the last piece of information I had about Max. I decided I might as well just sit tight until she returned but then decided if she wasn't back by tomorrow I was going out to look for her.

It was fourth period Biology and the teacher was giving a lecture. I wasn't sure what it was about. Ever sense Max left I found it hard to concentrate. I looked around and then realized I wasn't the only one having trouble concentrating. Zelda kept glancing at the door as if she expected someone to be coming through at any moment. I shook my head and tried to pay attention to the what ever the teacher was saying but instead found my self looking at the door. I stared at it, daring it to open. I was rewarded by seeing the knob turn. My eyes widened.

Max walked in and shut the door behind her. Mr. Bret turned around but he only regarded her with slight annoyance for interrupting his lesson. The rest of the class was silent, that is more than it had been a minute ago.

"Ms. Ride, it's so nice of you to _finally_ join us," his voice only held irritation.

Max smiled slightly as if she had only been late for class and had not been missing for almost two weeks. "I just couldn't bare another day away from biology class," She smirked.

The teacher rolled his eyes. "Just sit down, assuming you remember where your seat is." Max nodded and he went back to his lecture.

She slid into her seat next to me looking bored. I stared at her in disbelief, wondering how she could just sit there as if nothing had happened. From the corner of my eye I saw Zelda no longer looking at the door. She seemed relaxed. I scowled. She knew Max was coming back today. I looked back at Max. She was looking down at her hands and I was surprised to see that she had gloves on.

It didn't get that cold here in Arizona. Even in the middle of winter. I took out a piece of paper.

_Where the hell have you been?_ I pushed it towards Max.

She looked at it blankly then picked it up and read it. She took out her own pencil, wrote an answer, then pushed it back.

_Doesn't matter._

I growled slightly in my throat. Max looked at me then turned back. I wrote my response. _What do you mean it doesn't matter? And why the heck do you have gloves on? We're in freaking Arizona!_

Max glared at me. I was shocked to see that her eyes were glistening. My face softened and that was before she gave me back the note. _I don't want to hurt anyone again._

Something in my heart squeezed and I looked at her with sad eyes. She still believed she was a freak, didn't she?

_You won't hurt anyone Max._

She shook her head._ I can't risk it._

_I know you won't._ Max looked at the note then looked at me. There was something in her eyes but I couldn't read the emotion. She folded the piece of paper then put it away in her pocket. We sat there in an uncomfortable silence the rest of the period.

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

The bell rang signaling the time for lunch and I practically flew out the door. I heard silent determined steps behind me and I started walking faster. The more I sped up the faster the steps behind me came. It reminded me of that time I had been followed after school flying. I shuddered. I saw the door that led to the outside court yard. I opened it and went outside. I didn't hear the steps behind me anymore. Leaning against a tree, I shut my eyes. It was weird seeing Fang again. Even if it was just a short period of time. It wasn't the time spent with no contact with him, though. Back in the forest before going to sleep I thought of Fang. It was a weird thing to do, I know, but when I did I found that either I didn't have any of those dreams or they were just the better of them. Ugh, stupid Max. I only knew Fang for about two months and I felt like I had known him my whole life. Then the feeling I had when he passed me the note. I didn't know what it was. I didn't _want_ to know what it was. Shaking my head I slid down the trunk to sit down.

* * *

**Third Person P.O.V**

Fang was a foot away from Max. He stood there looking at her. She looked so hopeless lost in thought. She couldn't see him because he had turned invisible. Max started to slide down and Fang took an involuntary step forward before he realized she was just sitting down. Fang crouched down then became visible again.

"Now will you tell me where you were?" He whispered so quietly he wasn't even sure she heard him.

Max's eyes shot open. She stared at him for a moment before answering, "Why does it matter? I'm here now. What happened, happened. Just let it be, Fang."

"Max," Fang stared deep into her eyes and held her gaze. "The night you were missing I stayed up the whole night trying to find you. I think I deserve an answer."

She turned her face away. Max stayed silent. "Why were you fighting with Sam?" She asked finally.

"I'll answer your question if you answer mine."

Max rolled her eyes then leaned forward towards Fang. "I was at a forest about nine miles away or so. Secluded, a few animals, tall trees, other stuff." Max shook her head. "Great place to be away from people."

Fang looked at her with silent intensity then sat down. "I heard Sam talking about you. I didn't like what he was saying so then I confronted him."

"You could have just ignored him," Max said leaning back against the tree.

"Yeah right."

"They're just words Fang," Max sent him a bland look. "Plus, I'm not worth the trouble."

Fang narrowed his eyes. "The hell you're not, Max!" His voice was angry. How could she think she wasn't important? She was one of the most important things in his life! "You're the one to talk! Why did you have to interfere? If you hadn't you wouldn't have left!"

Max jumped up onto her feet and then Fang did the same. "What the hell was I supposed to do? Let him crack your skull open on the floor?" Her words were heated. "What I did was to save your freaking ass! What you did was to what? Defend my honor? Come on that is so 15th century! I can defend my self!"

"I'm not about to let that little creep talk about you that way and think he can get away with it!" Fang was angry now. Like he was supposed to just stand there as if nothing happened!

Max raised her head to the sky in exasperation. "Just don't do that again."

Fang stood there fuming. "Then promise not to run away like that again."

Max looked at him as if he had cut her. Then she burst out, "You don't know what it was like, Fang!" she rounded up on him but he stood there unflinchingly. "You don't what it feels like to be a freak!"

Fang looked at her in disbelief then said, "What kind of school do you think we go to, Max?"

Max stomped one foot on the ground like an angry child. "That's the thing!" Her eyes stung. _'Shit, Max, no. You're forbidden to cry,'_ She thought. "I was being stared at like a freak in a roomful of people that have abilities! You don't know what it's like!" She grabbed her head then let go. "Did you hear him scream? That was my fault!" She sat down again frustrated.

Fang kneeled down in front of Max. He took her face in his hands and made her look at him. If she thought she was a freak now, how would she feel if she learned about his wings? He remembered that promise she made him back in her room. Did she mean it?"Max," he stared into her eyes. "You are _not_ a freak," He said it with deep determination.

"Yes, I am," She answered quietly. "And nobody really cares about a freak."

Fang gave her an exasperated look and tried again. "Max, I repeat, you are not a freak." _'I wonder how he would feel if he knew about the wings,'_ She cringed away from the thought. "People do care about you, Max," Fang continued. "Your family cares-"

Max lowered her eyes. "They're family, they have to."

Fang shook his head. "They don't have to but they do care. Your friends care about you." Her eyes stayed lowered and Fang was desperate to bring back the brave, independent, determination that were in there before the accident. "Max..._I care."_

Max's eyes flew back up to his. There was some emotion in them and she felt it but she didn't know what it was. "That's because you don't know," she whispered.

Fang's hands dropped his hands from her face and grabbed her hand instead. It was a subconscious movement, he wasn't aware that he even did it. "I don't know what?"

Max looked into Fang's eyes and she was tempted to tell him. She wanted him to know but there was something inside of her that held her back. Fang looked back at her and she felt her mouth open to tell him.

There was a small cough from behind them. They both turned their heads and saw Zelda. That one cough brought them back to reality. Fang immediately released Max's hands and stood up. Likewise, Max fell back onto the trunk of the tree.

"Um, sorry, but I was wondering if I could talk to Max?" Zelda asked tentatively. She looked at Fang. "Privately?"

"Yeah, sure no problem," Fang said then he looked at Max. "I'm walking you home." She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to give you another chance to run off again." Max rolled her eyes. Fang walked off into the lunch room.

Once he was gone Max turned to Zelda. "You know, I'm sorry about running off and leaving you alone." Max gave her an apologetic look.

Zelda smiled and sat down next to her. "It's okay." Max saw Roger from above Zelda. "Hi," Zelda said to him. A few questions clicked in her head.

"So, you're the one who gave him the sack lunches," She said laughingly.

"Yep," Zelda nodded. "It was meant for both of you." Max gave her a blank look. Zelda laughed. "I told Roger about my missing friend and described you. Then he told me about how you rescued him from that hawk." She smiled.

"Poor guy, it must of hurt his ego when I told him it was a girl." Max shook her head.

Zelda dismissed it with a flip of her hand. "He said he knew where you were, though he wouldn't tell me." She looked up at Roger who was flying around the tree. "I didn't want you to starve so I decided to send you food by him."

Max laughed. "I wouldn't have starved. A bear taught me how to fish with only my hands."

Zelda's eyes widened slightly and Max laughed again. "Anyway," Zelda said slowly. "He did say one more thing about you though, Max."

"What's that?"

Zelda looked down at her hands then at Max. "The wings. I know your secret."

Max froze. Her head snapped up but Roger was some where hiding. She started breathing harder but tried not to show her panic.

"I won't tell anyone, Max, I promise" Zelda's voice was soft. Max looked at her and she could tell she was being honest. "I want you to know you can trust me."

Zelda stood up and started walking away then stopped. "Oh, and Max?" Max looked up at her. "You're not a freak." Then she walked away.

Max sat there thinking. She didn't know why but she already knew she could trust Zelda. She just felt that she was one of those kind, trusting, honest kind of people that were so very few. Max knew she wouldn't tell.

* * *

**Okay So I hope that makes up for the last chapter.**

**But don't expect me to update this quickly all the time**

**and again to obsessivereader1223 I'll try to do that but if I can't then it's shortish fast updated chapters!:)**


	13. and back into the forest

**I'm sorry.**

**Max P.O.V**

Fang kept his promise and walked me home that afternoon. It was a weird walk and of course with Fang we didn't have much of a conversation. It made it even more difficult not to think about how I almost spilled my secret. You know, the one about the _wings_. That was hours ago, right now it was dark out. I looked at the clock. It read 11:54. I shook my head and looked out the window. I thought of Vinnie and suddenly I felt homesick. Funny, seeing as I was at home right now. I opened the balcony doors but then turned around again. When I came home mom scolded me for about an hour and Ella was hysterical. Shaking my head I put a sign to my door that I made when I was ten. _'Out for a flight.'_ "There now they can't get mad at me." With a satisfied smirk I jumped off the balcony with a sweater in hand. It's starting to get a bit cold around here.

I flew around for awhile trying to remember where Vinnie usually stayed before Roger and I came along. Then I heard him.

It was a such a small groan for a such a big bear. I swooped down and let my eyes adjust to the dark. I looked around and saw Vinnie. He was laying against a tree whimpering, when he saw me the sound got louder. "Vinnie!" I ran over to him and saw that he was bleeding from his large leg and from his side. Putting my hand to his injuries I murmured, "Shh, it's okay." He whimpered. "What happened? Some of the wolves didn't come back did they?" He growled loudly and I wasn't sure weather that was a yes or he just really hated those wolves.

When I was done he started sniffing around as if he were a dog and then stuck his nose in the air and sniffed that. Then he looked at me again as if he hadn't actually saw me the whole and started licking my hand before he nudged me forward. This always meant he wanted me to follow him.

We walked for a while in silence until Vinnie started to slow down. He gently pushed me behind a tree and then motioned me forward a little. I walked behind a few trees and then I heard a few voices. I looked around for a bit until I saw where they were coming from.

"Stupid bear, I hate them." I couldn't see them clearly. All I saw was a big bulky hairy figure. _'What are they doing here? No people live around here.'_ I would know. I spent a whole day once looking around trying to see if there were any.

"I know," another ugly, gruff voice. "Look what that thing did to me here." The man turned and I saw who it was. Or more, _what_ it was. I gasped. He looked at me. A few thing crossed my mind at that very second. One, I'm very stupid. Two, that is _so_ not even a human. And three, he's coming straight at me! I turned around and started to run. I didn't know what that thing was but one thing was for sure. He terrified me more than wolves and I had no idea why.

Suddenly something inside of me made me stop. I had a flash of my dreams pass through my head. Some wolf-men were chasing me, they were clawing at me, the other kids that were with me. They were getting hurt too. I turned around and saw them come towards me and that's all I saw just then. My eyes filled with blood lust and my wings snapped out behind me. I charged forward towards the first one I saw. I just wanted to hurt him and all I felt was hate.

**Fang POV**

I woke up for the fourth time. The clock read 1:31. I slammed my head back on to the pillows but I gave up trying to go sleep. I kept dreaming that Max was being taken away by, well, it was weird but by the M geeks of the school. I cursed my self for even dreaming about Max and what the hell was she going to tell me? What don't I know! I jumped off the bed. This was annoying. I looked outside and saw how dark the sky was. No one would be awake right now, even if they were they wouldn't be able to see me. I lifted my self out of my window. And then jumped. Don't worry, I have wings, remember? I started flying. _'Max, seriously, if you only see me now you wouldn't think that you're a freak,'_ I thought as I flew over the Lake. I looked ahead. I usually never went farther than than the few woods but seeing as I won't be getting any sleep soon, why not go further? I started to accelerate and I went faster. The feeling of flying, yeah, I know you're jealous.

**Max POV**

I slammed his face in as Vinnie came up behind the other thing. He chewed the thing apart until he threw him against a tree with a violent thump. It twitched once and then moved no more. I looked at the one I was fighting with. I wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a grizzly breed between a man and dog but I wasn't so sure. He launched himself on top of me. He grabbed my arm and bit down. I screamed, kicking him backwards. And get this, he actually growled.

I laughed but it came out wrong and sounded more like a hyena gasping for air. "Ha, wow a dog boy and I thought I was the only freak." He growled again and I couldn't help but smirk. "What don't like it? Too bad that-" He slammed into, knocking the breath out of me. I grew mad and I remembered what I could do. I bit him and he howled. I flew up at just the moment he let go of me. I took off my gloves and then landed on him. I grabbed his throat. If he could have he would have screamed to the top of his lungs but all that came out was a rasping sound. After that there was nothing. I let go and then Scooted away but I noticed something that I didn't remember happening before. My wounds were taking longer to heal.

Vinnie came by whimpering just a little he barely got hurt. I touched him and the healing process only went a bit faster for him. He whined a little. "Sorry, Vinnie, I don't know what's going on. It's just ah," I looked down at my arm. It felt as it were burning. I usually didn't look but my skin looked like it was pieces of plastic slowly coming together. Vinnie's healed faster than mine. I tried closing my wings but even those were having difficulty healing. I focused only on them until they closed. I tried walking but I felt light headed. If I were super man than what ever those things would've been my kryptonite because for some reason I just couldn't heal fast enough.

I looked at Vinnie and put on my jacket that I still had around my waist. My actions were as if I were drunk and I even felt it. I was surprised it even stayed on me. "I guess that was a bad idea, wasn't it?" I bitterly laughed just before I fell on Vinnie's back. "Thanks, Pal. Nice catch..." I blacked out.

**Vinnie's POV(Yay!)**

I tried looking at Max but I could barely just glance at her. Yeah, she was out. I shook my head. Ugh, humans. They're really special aren't they? I glanced at Max one more time and I felt bad about leading her to those...I wasn't even sure what they were. I didn't like the smell of them that's all I knew. Max was breathing heavily and I could tell even though she was healing it was coming slowly and she was losing blood. I looked ahead and decided it was best to take her as close to the nearest human neighborhood there was. I wasn't all to blame for this, I mean really, I didn't tell her to _stop_ running. Humans. I scoffed and then trotted on.

**Fang POV**

I flew for a while, actually I'm not sure for how long. In fact, I don't even know how far I've gone either. There were trees surrounding almost every square area by now. I was starting to get tired by now so I decided to land and lowered to the ground. As I was coming down I saw a bear. It looked like it had something on it's back. No, not something someone. And that some one was...

"Shit!" It was Max. I tucked in my wings landing as I was nearing the ground, a few feet from the bear. It looked bigger than it should have been. He growled when he saw me. I moved closer and he moved back growling louder.

I glared at him then went straight towards Max. The bear tried biting me just before I got to close. I pulled my hand back. "Okay, come on, just let me take her." He backed away some more. I rolled my eyes. I snapped my wings out getting ready to just fly over him and grab Max but then he did the strangest thing. He lowered him self as if he were holding her out to me. He whimpered. I wasn't sure if he was scared of me or just thought I was an angel taking her to heaven but I grabbed Max off his back before he could think twice and move back again. I lowered Max to the ground and saw that she had cuts all over her face that were healing.

I touched her cheek lightly making her wince. I pulled her against my chest. The bear came and plopped down in front of me. He made a small whiny noise before conforming to silence. Max's hand fell slightly to her side and he nudged it. I was confused as to how close this bear seemed to be to Max but then I remembered Zelda talking to the dove about a bear Max encountered. So, he was the bear. Or maybe he wasn't. If he was _that _bear than he'd be likely to have been the one to hurt her than whining about some stranger taking her away. Then again, how many other bears could have Max encountered?

I looked at him then stood up. He got up to looking up at me. "I'm taking her home," I told him. He licked Max's hand and then pushed me as if telling me to take her home already. I grinned slightly because you know it's me we're talking about. I wouldn't smile.

I flew up praying that Max wouldn't wake up before I got her home. How did she get hurt? More importantly how did she even get all the way over here? I kept flying until I reached her balcony and I realized the doors were open. I looked down from the edge. Despite her Maxness she did not come off as a person the would just jump down from her own balcony. I walked into her room and looked around then gently layed her on the bed. The scratches were completely healed up by now. She looked so...peaceful sleeping. Kind of cute and uh beautiful. Ugh, okay forget I said that just forget it...

I turned to leave but then I noticed that same picture the first time I came inside Max's room. I picked the photograph up and looked at her wings. They looked so real. A strange longing came over me just then and I hated my self for feeling it. I wanted Max's wings to be real. I wanted her to be able to feel the wind against her face and just soar through the sky. But no, in some way it was okay because, strangely, I'm not that selfish. I put the frame down and then walked out of her room with a last look at her. Then I jumped out and flew home.

**Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes. I didn't check them because I just wanted to update this chapter. So yeah.**


	14. I don't know

**Yep...chapter 14 :)**

* * *

**Max POV**

_Fang was carrying me in his arms. The feeling was wonderful and I could just barely see his black colored wings. I was so tired the my eyes were only slightly open. He didn't notice. Fang looked tired too. Flying, was he flying? I laughed a little inside but then I started to freak out. Could he feel my wings? Of course, he couldn't see them, I had my jacket on but could he feel them? He had wings, though. '_It's okay he has wings_,' I thought. He was probably too tired to notice. I turned my head into his chest slightly he barely noticed. Everything was just flowing through me after that._

My eyes opened slowly and my body ached all over. I looked up at the ceiling, around the room, then back to the ceiling. A deep feeling of disappointment came over me as I lied there.

"It was only a dream," I whispered. Ugh, of course it was a dream. I mean, Fang? With Wings? Get real, that would never happen. But, if that was a dream was the rest of it a dream too? I shook my head. Well, yeah it had to be a dream. Who ever heard of wolf men? I got up and I saw I in the same clothes. "I'm a weird dreamer."

"MAX! Come on it's almost time for school!"

Ah, shoot I forgot that still existed. "Coming!" I looked down. Oh, wait I needed to get changed. "I mean, five more minutes!"

"Hurry up!" Ella yelled.

I ran to my closet and put on the first things I saw then ran back down stairs.

Ella squealed when she saw me. "Aw, Max! The time away from home really did help."

I looked at her as if she were crazy. "What are you talking about?"

She laughed. "Your outfit, silly?"

I looked down. In my rush, the clothes I had randomly chosen were the ones Ella had chosen. The ones I vowed never to wear. And I was wearing them, right now. "I'm going back up to change," I mumbled and started up the stairs.

"No, Max." Mom said. "You two are going to be late. You're just going to have to deal with it. Let's go." I groaned.

"You know I could just fly my self to school."

"No!"

I knew she wouldn't go for it. I walked out of the house and ran into the back seat of the car. For the first time in my life I wanted to be in a car...and stay in it.

"Oh, my, gosh, Max. Move your big butt out of the way," Ella tried pushing me off.

"Look who's talking," I mumbled and was rewarded with a smack against my butt. "Why don't you take shot gun?"

Ella sighed, closed the door and then was in the seat in front in the next second. I sat up and straightened up. I looked down at my clothes, I wasn't even sure what I was wearing. They looked like some type of pants and this shirt...Yeah, I'm clueless. Then Ella appeared next to me.

"You're not even wearing the right shoes!" She said it so loudly that mom almost swerved out of the lane. She looked at her and said, "Sorry, I'll be right back." She left and then a minute later she was back.

"You seriously need to learn to get in with style," She brought out some shoes.

"No, thanks, and plus what am I wearing?"

Her mouth fell open. "You don't even know what you're wearing?"

"I was rushed!" I put my hands as if that would defend me from something.

She pointed at the pants. "Dylan George Alexandra ripped flare in dark czar jeans and the blouse is-"

"How much did these cost? It better not be more than five dollars." why would anyone but ripped jeans for more than that? Why would anyone buy ripped jeans at all? You could do that at home! I don't care who made them

"I guess I shouldn't say," then she pointed at the shirt. "This is a rosette back tunic tank and the out fit is supposed to go with these," She pulled out some purple high heels. "Which are Casadei strappy high heel sandals."

"I'm not wearing purple high heels." I moved so far back into the seat that I almost crushed some of my right wing. "And you know what? I lied I don't need to know what I'm wearing."

"One, they're not purple they're mauve high heel _sandals_," shad informed me as I rolled my eyes. "And two, you're wearing them. You can't wear that out fit with those sneakers and that sweater. You need to wear this jacket _and_ I need to do at least _brush_ you hair." She took out a white...well something that was supposed to be a jacket. "It's the latest cap sleeve woman's jacket," she smiled.

Me, in response, glared. "You can _brush _my hair and I will wear the stupid _high heels_ but the sweater stays."

"But Max-!"

"There is no way that thing you call a jacket is going to be able to cover my wings," Ella's mouth shut. "There now that that's settled." I took out my I-pod, put in the ear phones and closed my eyes letting Ella do her own thing. It wasn't the first time she had done this...only it was usually on our way to some other place instead of school. It was just one day, I could deal with it.

* * *

When we got to school everyone was staring. I usually wouldn't have noticed had it not been for Ella who squealed in my ear, "Oh, my gosh Max! Everyone is staring at you!" And then there they were those eyes...the eyes! Ahhhh...I don't know about you but having everyone stare at you and _not look away_ no matter how many death glares were given was the equivalent of being stuck in a very small rusty cage. Scary image, forget I said that!

I bolted into the building and then hid behind a trash can. I know not the best place to hide but there was no where else to go without getting even more stares. I sat there for a while with my eyes closed just listening to music. I thought about the weird dream I had. I have a weird mind.

'_I've given up on giving up slowly, I'm blending in so  
You won't even know me apart from this whole world that shares my fate  
This one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption  
because I know to live you must give your life away  
And I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and  
I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the key  
And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me  
And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because  
I gotta get outta here  
I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake  
I gotta get outta here  
And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging You to be my escape.  
I'm giving up on doing this alone now  
Cause I've failed and I'm ready to be shown how  
He's told me the way and I'm trying to get there  
And this life sentence that I'm serving  
I admit that I'm every bit deserving  
But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair  
Cause I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and  
I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the-'_

_**(a/n just happened to be the song I listening to)**_

My head phones were pulled out of my ears and I almost screamed like a little girl but instead contented my self with hitting what ever was behind me.

"Oof!" Fang rubbed his chest where I hit him. "Couldn't you have screamed instead of hitting me?"

I shook my head and stood up. Fang looked me up and down.

"What bet did you lose?" He smirked and raised his eyebrow.

Out of all days, I picked that one to be self conscious. I blushed and looked down not because I was embarrassed that he was looking at me but because I had something to be embarrassed about at all! I shook my head. What's wrong with me? "I didn't lose a bet." _'He doesn't like it...'_ I scowled at my feet. I didn't care if he did or didn't.

"I need to go change."

"It looks nice," Fang quickly said. I looked up at him and when our eyes met he blushed. I laughed. Fang blushing? Ha, I was surprised this wasn't a dream.

"Sure, Fang, but I need to wear something more comfortable to practice for evaluation," Small disappointment flashed in his eyes but I wasn't sure if I had actually seen it. "You know, it starts on Monday for us." I smiled and his eyes shined.

"Keep it on till lunch," He grinned a little and I was surprised. "I'm serious. Looks great."

For some reason my heart sped fast and then my dream came to mind and I remembered how amazing it was that he had wings. How much I wish that was real. We walked together to English.

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**Ha ha, that was just a lame fill in chapter. Really lame. Just for fun...but it wasn't fun to write because I actually had to Google for some 'in style outfits' because I am absolutely clueless when it comes to fashion. But yeah. Finally I get to write the evaluation next chapter because I have no idea what to do between now and then :) Unless you people have ideas ;) Extremely short I know I'm sorry**


	15. Evaluation

**Max POV**

I think right now would be a good time to be honest; I have never seen the field that was behind the forest of Freak High. In fact, I had no idea that behind the _field_ there was a huge drop as if we were on a canyon. It's the strangest thing. I bet they did it on purpose. I shook my head and looked around the back of the school. The last day of practice I had been informed about this. Now being out on the field it felt so strange that I hadn't even noticed. On the side of the field closest to the school there were two big screens that were meant to show not only who was up for evaluation but also how people were doing. Apparently, they had cameras all over the place during evaluation and put it on display.

"Ready?"

I turned to see Fang come up behind me. "Uh, yeah but, I don't know. I don't have a good feeling about all this." All the ninth graders were crowded all around the place. The only other person participating that wasn't in our grade, was Nudge. She had pleaded to be able to get it over with and since she did so well in her last evaluation they let her.

"Better get over it quickly," Fang said looking out on the field.

"Why?"

He looked down at me. "Because you're one of the first people up."

My head snapped up. "What? You can't be serious!" He tilted his head toward the screen. The first two up were, Amber Raven and Justin, then came Nudge and Brigid, after them came Nutmeg Rondinelli and- I let out a big groan. Third up was Nutmeg and I. Why would they make me be one of the first few? I was new for goodness sake! I shook my head angrily. Fang was right, I would have to get over it quickly if I wanted to do this quickly.

"You guys!" We looked to our right and saw Iggy waving his arms madly. "Come on you're gonna want to see this! They're starting!"

I looked at Fang questioningly.

"Amber and Justin are one of the best." Oh.

Once we were with Iggy, I realized Ella, Nudge, JJ, and Zelda were with him looking up at the screen. Then the screen lit up with the principal's face. "Okay every one first two up are, Amber Raven, right screen. To the left screen, Justin Michelson." The screen shut off and in its place we could see Justin in the forest and Amber in the middle of the field. I turned and I could see her just off in the distance. Then I looked back at the screen.

I had never actually come to know Amber. I had only seen her a couple of times mainly in the library and in my biology class. Her hazel eyes always stood out against her pale skin with her light brown falling gently around her face. She was the type that liked being alone and I had heard her more than once put Sam down when ever he bothered her. I liked her because it seemed she didn't really care what other people thought and, unlike the other girls in this school, she dressed normally. She was more on the tomboy side but that was also one of the reasons I liked her. I heard her powers were absorbing others which made me a little uneasy until Fang had explained that in her first year she had spent a long time learning to control it. She used to wear gloves and I looked down at my own gloved hands. I sighed and wished I could learn to control my powers as well as she had.

Everyone waited for the signal that they could begin. It was supposed to be a loud- OW! There it was...I rubbed my ears from the loud sound and looked at the screen. Justin had morphed into a jaguar and Amber had tensed up. The only other difference is that they weren't alone anymore. What I saw in the screen with them made my blood chill. On each screen there were almost the exact same things that I had dreamed had attacked me a few days ago. Only they were less shaggier and more robotic looking.

On the left, Justin was pacing in a circle, the thing copying him, wondering who would have to make the first move. What did Fang call that thing? M geek, yeah, that was it. Like wise, Amber had stayed still waiting for the M geek to make a move. At the same time Justin launched him self at the M Geek, the one with Amber ran straight to her. Almost immediately, a ring of fire went all around her blocking her self from the M geek.

My eyes grew in surprise and I looked at fang.

He looked at me and then explained, "Lissa was trying to give her fashion tips then tried grabbing Amber's hair. Amber grabbed her hand and accidentally took some of Lissa's power." After that 'long' sentence Fang looked slightly tired. I might have laughed if I hadn't realized the M geek threw Justin completely off his back.

Justin shook his head and then bared his long, sharp teeth at the M Geek, as if to say, "I'll get you back for that." He then ran up the closest tree then jumped off so he could land on the M geek. It howled then immediately bite down hard on Justin's claw then scratched the side of his face. Justin jumped off then bolted straight into the M geek knocking him over. I noticed that Justin's M Geek was more animal like and built heavier than Amber's. Despite that, her M geek was much more craftier than Justin's.

It had leaped over the fire and then again to get out when Amber had slipped out while Justin had been running up the tree. Now, they were doing a one on one combat against each other. The M geek flipped behind her and was about to kick Amber's spine but Amber had turned in time and went straight through her. I had no doubt she had absorbed Sam's powers on purpose. No doubt he also deserved it.

Justin had started running around the forest not trying to lose his M geek but trying to tire it out. Once he was a fair distance away, he turned into a Pigeon. I knew he must have regretted it because not only did he slow down by a lot by morphing but the M geek had almost caught him a second after he changed. Justin wasn't an expert flier in fact he was kind of bad at it and he knew it. Flying as far as he could up a tree before the M Geek realized what he was doing he changed into a chimp as fast as he could then started to jump over branches away from it. Everyone started laughing but immediately cut off when we heard Amber's loud scream.

The M geek had just slammed her on her left arm. A bone was visibly poking out. Amber looked tired from the one on one combat but then her face turned fierce. Even though she struggled she got up as fast as she could and held on tightly to the M Geek's throat. Any energy that had been in the M Geek was slowly draining away. Finally, she dropped the M Geek face down. With her right hand she attracted sharp stones from the ground then burst them into flames. She sent the straight through the M Geek's back making it burst into flames. Amber's evaluation was over. She took a few steps back from the small fire then collapsed.

I heard someone call my name and I ran as fast as I could towards Amber. When I got to her she was sweating and just barely conscious trying not to move her left arm. I put my arm on it and Amber groaned in pain which was eased as her bone started mending back into place. When I was done I helped her up.

She smiled a little at me then said, "Well, that wasn't so bad." She brushed her pants off as I laughed. "At least I didn't bleed like last time." She scrunched up her nose before adding, "Why does blood have to be red? Of all colors! Oh, well." She started walking towards the crowd and I followed her. When we got to the crowd I saw that Justin had turned into a gray wolf. He told me once that each time he morphed most of his energy got back to him. He had just slithered up a tree without the M Geek noticing leaving it looking completely confused. Then, with out warning, Justin crashed straight onto the M geeks back as a bear. Going on his back legs he lifted the M geek and slammed him down against a tree. He waited a moment but the M Geek didn't get back up. Then he turned back into himself in a white undershirt and shorts. He smiled into the camera before the screen turned back into the listings of who would be next. I realized Nudge hadn't been around for a while. After looking around for a while I also realized Brigid had gone missing too. I soon learned why.

"Okay, next up, Monique Sanders and Brigid Dwyer." They really did make it sound like a tournament. The screen lit up showing Nudge to the left placed into a room full of wires and electronics all over the place. It looked really hazardous but Nudge looked content in there. On the right, Brigid was in a different room filled with ice and snow. It looked like it could be below freezing in there but Brigid also didn't seem to notice anything strange in the room.

I covered my ears in expectancy of the loud noise. It bellowed out and I took my hands off my ears watching what would happen. As soon as Nudge saw the M geek she completely engulfed herself in a bunch of objects. The M Geek looked slightly confused but then started walking closer to Nudge. Not a second later, everything that had covered Nudge blasted off of her straight towards the M Geek sending it crashing against the other side of the room making it howl out loud.

On the other screen, Brigid had taken a similar approach as Justin and Amber and waited for the M Geek to make it's move. As soon as it charged towards her, she ran the other way blasting shards of ice towards it. The M Geek dodged most of them but still got cut a bit. Looking at the screen seeing Nudge fight her M Geek, I realized that each one was made to evenly match it's opponent. Before I could draw anymore conclusions, though, some on tapped my on the shoulder.

It was one of the eleventh graders that had come out to help with the evaluation. I tried to remember his name, Conner? "Hey, Maximum Ride, right?" I nodded. "Okay, come on you're going up next." I nodded and started to follow him where everyone would sign in before their evaluation. When I got there I realized Nutmeg had already gotten there and was now leaning against one of the tables wearing a black tank top and long black gym shorts. She had the blackest hair I had ever seen, with the exception of Fang's, that was long and wavy. She also had the greenest eyes I had ever seen. She was slim but had slight muscle on her arms out of what I could see and even though she looked short to me I could tell she was at a normal height. All I really knew about her is that she came from, New york, was always completely alone all the time and seemed to carry chocolate with her everywhere as her favorite snack.

I went up to the table to get signed in. There was a woman sitting in the chair behind it looking slightly bored. "Name?" She asked

"Maximum Ride."

"Ability?"

"Accelerated healing and wounding." Oh and I have wings but that's just me.

She looked at me a little weirdly when I said wounding. "As soon as they're done you'll be going out into either the forest or the field. You have to decide that with Ms. Rondinelli." She pointed at Nutmeg and I walked over to her.

She looked up at me with her arms crossed over he chest. She uncrossed them then said, "I have to be outside but with no specific environment so we have to decide if we're either both going to be out in the field or if one of us goes out into the field and the other into the forest."

I thought for a moment then answered, "I don't really care so it's up to you."

"Kay," She stopped leaning against the table, straightening up she looked an inch or two taller. "I don't really care, either, but I guess I'll take the forest cause I don't want to be aware of all the people and I don't want them getting too wet." I gave her a confused look and she grinned. "I can control weather for the most part. I'm known for making it rain. Sorry if it gets to you, though. I don't really notice how far I'm controlling it during evaluations. People got wet last time." She laughed then and shook her head. "I don't really care but if they don't want to get wet I hope they remember and brought an umbrella."

I smiled. "No worries. I don't care if it gets wet. I just want to get this over with."

She nodded approvingly, "Me too." She looked over at the women and called to her. "Hey, Ruth, I'm taking the forest. Max here's got the field." She started walking away but then turned around for a second. "By the way, cool name, Max." Then she walked off.

"Don't make it rain to hard, Nutty!" Conner shouted over to her.

"Don't count on it Connie!" She called back.

The screen was pretty big so I could still see Nudge and Brigid. Nudge was now standing victoriously over her M Geek. I wish I could have seen what she had done. She had an awesome start.

"Brigid won't take long," Conner said behind me. I turned to look at him. "Better get going." I nodded and walked off to the middle of the field.

When I got there I could just barely see Brigid finishing of her M Geek by attacking it by a butt load of sharp ice shards. I looked away because I wasn't especially interested in what happened. I just wanted to get the whole ordeal over with. I crossed my arms over my chest with a bored expression on my face then leaned against my right leg. The next time I looked at the screen I saw Nutmeg and I being shown on the screen. She was in a similar pose. I straightened up at the same time she did and I could hear quiet laughter coming from the crowd.

I don't know what did it but I tensed up even before the signal rang out. I turned quickly around and there it was, the M Geek. Only now he didn't look_ similar_ to what I had dreamed, he looked the _exact_ same as the wolf man thing I had seen. My first instinct was to run as fast as my legs could carry me. My second reaction was much more violent: to kill it. My eyes clouded with blood lust and I did the exact opposite of what I had planned. I rushed straight towards the M Geek ready to attack it. I no longer heard a crowd, I no longer thought anything and my mind was completely on the thought I had to get rid of this thing before it got rid of me. I slammed my fist into his face and when I did, he grinned. At that moment only one very clear memory came to mind. I had done this before. More than once. Then, all hell broke lose between us.

**Third person P.O.V**

"Dr. Benedict are you sure she is the one?" The young man stood next to his employer inside a quiet secluded room somewhere inside of Freak High.

"I'm sure it's her. No one would react so violently to an eraser," Dr. Benedict sat staring at the screen that showed both Amber with her M Geek and Max with the a real eraser. He was only interested in Max, the only one he needed to see.

"But if it isn't her? No other student will be able to stand up against an eraser!" The man said worriedly.

"Hold your tongue, Mattinson!" Dr. Benedict also had doubts but he wasn't about to voice them after showing that he was certain it was her. It had to be. "She either kills him or he finds a way to get her off the cliff so she can snap her wings out. She won't give it a second thought. If she kills him then it is her. We draw the same conclusion if she snaps her wings out. If he comes close to killing her then they will stop it and it isn't her."

"And if she falls?"

Dr. Benedict glared at Mattinson. "It is her!"

**Max P.O.V**

I was getting weak and I knew it. I wasn't healing fast enough. At each punch and each kick we kept getting farther and farther away from everyone. I kept trying to move closer because I knew if we went just a few yards farther we would reach the cliff. I either had to risk showing my wings or let my self fall. Kicking the so called M Geek's stomach, I knew what I would do. I had promised not to show my wings in front of everyone. I never broke a promise. Then rain had started pouring down hard.

Yet, the pain that I got from each hit didn't compare to the disbelief and anger that I had from realizing that my dreams hadn't been dreams at all. Each hit I gave the M geek was hit with more force even though I was losing strength. Another realization hit me at the same time as it pushed me farther away with a kick. This was _not _an M Geek this was an eraser. The memory of the name boiled in my mind. And I lost control completely. I let my hands take on the power. _'There were others like me!'_

I twisted his arm. _'I had been locked in a cage!'_

I kicked his shin then his crotch. _'I had been experimented on!'_

I pulled his head back as the thought that made me more furious came up, _'I had been lied to!'_

I pushed him to the ground also letting go at the same time as a question thundered in my head, _'Where the hell are the others?'_

**Fang P.O,V**

Nutmeg was just about to finish off her M Geek but no one was really paying attention. Everyone had their eyes focused the right screen where Max was. Some of us actually went farther into the field because they kept moving farther away. I was getting really worried that I didn't notice the rain until it started coming harder. _'If they go any further, Max will go off the cliff!'_ Then I belatedly realized that they were at the edge and Max was struggling to get away from the M Geek...but she wasn't struggling hard enough.

I heard Ella beside me, "Oh, No! Max!"

Then I saw it, they were both about to fall. I started running towards her ready to take out my wings but then got tackled.

"Fang! No!" I was trapped beneath Iggy's weight.

I looked up and saw Max fall with the M Geek.

"MAX!" My voice wasn't alone.

**

* * *

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**Yeah, a cliff hanger! HA! Get it? Yeah but that's for the threats not really but I needed this. No worries I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow, I promise! No more promises about how fast I will update after this cause I really don't know how to manage my time. Anyway, sorry about making you wait. Here's to you lonewolfrox3264 and Angel-Gone-Bad. Hope you like your characters!**


	16. Hmm

**Third person P.O.V**

Max tried to push away from the eraser but she was already so weak and couldn't heal anymore than she was at that moment which was almost as slow as a a regular human could. Max refused to give up so instead, she held on to the eraser's harry arms and cut him deeply. The eraser howled in pain and let go but it didn't matter they were already too close to the edge. Both Max and the eraser fell. She could hear several voices call her name in the distance.

All everyone, including Fang, could focus on was that Max had fallen that they didn't notice that Ella had vanish immediately. No one heard Zelda, who whispered quietly, "Why isn't she using her wings?"

It was a deep fall, Max was half way to the ground until she felt arms around her and then she was no longer falling. Max and Ella both crashed in front the whole crowd that gathered in the field. Max was on top of Ella so she didn't hit the ground as hard as she would have. Ella felt the huge weight of Max on her and let out a great, "Ooff" but she didn't care because she had managed to catch Max in time.

Max opened her eyes confusedly then she saw Ella with her arms around her. She got off of her and sat on the ground beside her. Vanquishing all of her other thoughts as much as she could for the moment, Max wrapped her arms around Ella, focusing entirely on what her sister had just done.

Ella's face was tears streaked when she looked at Max. "Oh, my gosh, Max!" She managed to get out as she wrapped her arms around her.

Max was tired and although having Ella's arms around her hurt she let her keep hugging her. Max grabbed Ella's face between her face making her look into her eyes. "I am so proud of you, Ella. You can teleport with people now!" Max smiled.

Ella's eyes widened with shock and then she started to laugh. She hugged Max harder until she heard her grunt.

Only when they got up did Max realize there was a big crowd around them. She started feeling claustrophobic but then felt confused because everyone was staring at her in shock. _'Maybe they're looking at Ella. What she did was amazing.'_ She looked at Ella, too, was looking at her in the same way. She noticed Fang, Iggy, Justin, JJ, Nudge, and Zelda pushing though the crowd.

"You're still bleeding!" Zelda gasped. _**(oh my gosh I'm so sorry. I just realized I made it sound as if they saw her wings :/)**_

Max looked down at her self and noticed she was just barely starting to heal. Suddenly she started to feel light headed and started to slowly descend before a pair of very strong arms held her up. "Max," Fang whispered. "What's wrong? Why aren't you healing?"

"I am...just not quick enough." She felt her feet get raised off there floor.

Fang was carrying her bridal style through the crowd once again trying not to get claustrophobic. _'Darn she looks so weak.'_ Fang tried not to notice how sickeningly slow her wounds were healing. He laid her on the edge of the field. All the teachers started to crowd around her.

"Should we check her wounds, to see what's going on?"

At the mention that they would actually try to touch her made Max very alert. "Don't," She growled. "Even dare to come near me." Fang looked at her uneasily as if he wanted her to let them check her. She pushed away from him as one stubborn teacher came closer.

Nutmeg intercepted them. "She said not to get near." She turned around and helped Max up. "I don't like them to help me when I'm hurt either."

Max grinned slightly even though that wasn't the reason that she had told them to back off. She didn't want them to feel around and then find her wings. She certainly couldn't explain why she was having difficulties healing and she would _refuse_ to explain the wings.

Amber who had held off for a while came up to Max. She looked her over and then brushed off her shoulder. "Just an ability malfunction, see?" She pointed straight at Max. "You're almost all healed up. Too many hits at one time. You were just fine a while ago. You'll be fine in no time." She shook her head a little as if everything were a mere misunderstanding. Then she turned to the crowd. "Nothing to see here, just a little scratch."

Everyone still looked uneasy and Max laughed. "Rookies aren't meant to go first," Max said. But inside she started remembering again. She wasn't a rookie, she had done it all before. She was just out of practice. Everyone was allowed to leave as soon as they were done with evaluation but it was common for people to stay to see everyone else. Max didn't want to and she looked around for Ella. She was just standing a few feet away.

"Want to see if you can take me home?" Max said to her.

Ella nodded and held on to Max. "You sure?"

"Yep." Then they were gone. Max wasn't even aware that it had happened. She had just blinked and when she opened her eyes she was in her room. She looked at Ella who was just standing there. "You can go back, if you want. I really want some time alone. Really," she added when she saw Ella hesitate.

"Could you answer me one question before I go back, though?"

Max nodded, she knew what she was going to ask.

"Why didn't use your wings?"

"I promised not to show my wings to everyone."

Ella nodded as if she understood. "You never break your promises. You weren't about to break that to save your life, were you?"

"Nope."

"Good thing my ability decided to improve," Ella hugged Max just before she vanished.

Max waited until she was sure Ella was gone from the house. Then, she let her fury uncoil.

* * *

**Third person P.O.V (Dr. Benedict)**

Back some where in Freak high, Dr. Benedict was unleashing his own fury. He cursed and he smashed things against the wall. He had received a call a minute ago asking if he wanted to continue the evaluations. He had yelled at the receiver to postpone it. He walked around the room furious

Mattinson had wisely stayed off to the side and let his employer play out his anger. He refrained from the childish impulse to say, "I told you so." He honestly couldn't believe the luck of the girl. Had the other not saved her she would have died.

"I was so sure it was her!" Dr. Benedict boomed. He sent another inanimate object crashing against the wall. He now knew it wasn't. If it had been that experiment she would have snapped out her wings in time. Even if she was smart she would have pulled out her wings as soon as she was out of sight. If it had been the experiment than she would have healed faster! They had designed her to heal quickly after eraser wounds. Her reaction to the eraser now meant nothing to him.

_'It's probably just an instinct among those stupid little mutants,' _He thought scathingly. _'Of course they would notice the difference!"_ He slammed his fist against the table.

* * *

**Max P.O.V**

I sat on the edge of my balcony looking out into the sky. It was gray despite the fact that Nutmeg's evaluation had been over for quite some time. Most of my anger was spent so I just stayed sitting out here trying to think. I couldn't believe it. Mom said they were all just dreams...she had lied.

I remembered something else that I knew was responsible for me forgetting everything.

_"Max, stop struggling. I promised no one will hurt you here,"Jeb said trying to soothe me. He was very bad at it. We were walking up someone's drive way._

_"Why should I believe you? You won't even tell me what happened to my friends!" I tried to pull my arm away but he gripped harder. I was about to put my other hand on his arm when he stopped me._

_"That won't work, Max. Remember the medication I gave you?"_

_I sighed angrily. "I'll be needin' them back."_

_"No, you won't. Mrs. Martinez has a daughter with her and I already told you she is your mother as well." Every time he said that it made me angry._

_"No, she ain't!" I growled._

_Jeb was losing his patience, I could tell and I stopped struggling. It was the least I could do since he took me away from the School. "Why do you think she isn't?_

_"What type of parent would leave their kid in a place like the School?"_

_He stayed silent then said, "She tried getting you out. Now we've finally done it." We stopped at the front door and I sighed. I had no other choice _but_ to trust him. He knocked on the door and a Hispanic lady opened the door._

_"Jeb! Come in, come in!" She rushed us both inside._

_I looked around the inside. It was small but cozy looking. I stood there completely amazed. I had never witnessed such a place. I shook my head and set my mind on the matter in hand. I had completely missed what they were saying but when I looked back at them Jeb had been holding a needle. "No!" I cried. "You said no more hurting!"_

_"Max you need this. It will take away all the pain," He said reaching out to me._

_"But I don't got no pain anymore!" I whimpered._

_Mrs. Martinez then held up her hand as if to plead. "Oh, Jeb, don't. You're scaring her."_

_I glared and said, "I ain't scared!"_

_Jeb looked at me sympathetically and I hated it. "Max, this will take all the bad memories away. I know they will cause you pain."_

_"Just the bad ones? I won't forget my friends, will I?"_

_"I promise."_

_I looked from the needle in his hand to his face. I held my arm out. It had been the first time I had ever willingly let someone stick a needle into me. _

_He never bothered to tell me that he had to repeatedly inject me. Later, I figured out he had been lying. I was forgetting everything from my past. I fought him many times until I finally won and made him stop but it was too late. By then I had pretty much forgotten everything. I resented him after that but the only reason I knew for disliking him after wards was because he had left Mom, Ella, and I. __I learned later that he had been my dad and the next time I saw him I resented him more than ever._

Now I understood why I still had the dreams. Jeb hadn't made me forget completely so they were still in my mind. Now I remembered everything. Including my friends.

I lowered my head down. The dark eyed boy...he was Fang. There was no denying it. I had heard him whisper the name so many times in the dark. It just had to be the name he would choose for himself. Honestly, how many Fangs were out there in the world? With dark eyes and jet black hair? He's the only one it could be. Any doubts that would have been stayed in my mind were completely gone because along with the memories of my haunting childhood, I also realized that what had happened that night a few days ago wasn't a dream either. It had been as real as the pain that I felt when I had woken up after blacking out.

I looked up at the sky and remembered that conversation back in my room with Fang. He had seen the photo of me with my wings. He had seemed hopeful and strangely suspicious until I had told him it was photo shopped. Then I remembered the promise I had made him. My stomach churned uncomfortably and I looked back down. He either hadn't believed me or didn't trust me. Ugh, and he had said ditto! What on Earth did that mean?

Another thought occurred to me and it made me angry with him. He had broken his promise! The stupid jerk had broken his promise and forgot who the heck I was!

"Max!" The loud shout had almost made me fall off the balcony. I quickly got off then turned around to find my mom standing at the entrance of my bedroom. I had pretty much completely destroyed my whole room. My bed was off the frame, my closet was in tatters everything was either on the ground rumpled or beside the wall having been crashed and broken. In fact, the only thing that I hadn't been able to bring my self to break was Jane and Hilbert. I looked at the picture frame of my self in wings. The one Fang had picked up. It was the first thing I had thrown against the wall and broke. I also made a very big hole on the farther end of my room.

"What happened here?" She demanded.

I looked at the whole mess and shrugged. "Steaming off anger."

"Steaming off anger? That's all you have-"

The doorbell rang and someone answered it which meant that Ella was home and early. Then I heard the loathsomely familiar voice. "Where's Max?" My hands clenched into fist as soon as I heard Jeb's voice.

Mom looked behind her. She looked back at me then said, "You'll explain this later."

"No," I snapped. "Don't worry. I'll explain as soon as we get downstairs." I walked straight past her and went downstairs as fast as I could without running. When I got downstairs I saw Jeb pacing the living room like a caged cat.

When he looked up he burst, "Max! You're okay!"

I scowled at him. "Oh, so you mean you weren't the one who switched the M Geek with an eraser?" I heard my mom gasp. I knew it wasn't Jeb who had switched them, in fact, I remembered that he hadn't wanted me here in the first place. Gosh, so many darn things that I could remember now and they were all making me angry.

"Eraser?" Jeb asked in a disbelieving voice.

"What? You didn't know?" I mocked then I looked him straight in the eye and jumped to the right conclusion. "Or is it that you didn't think I would remember what that vile thing is called? I don't only remember what it's called but I remember everything from my past, Jeb," I sneered his name. I got angrier after each word I spoke. "The eraser did a pretty good job of triggering my memory when it _smiled_ at me!" They both stared at me in shock and I just barely noticed Ella standing to the side looking confused. Of course, she would be confused. She hadn't been there when I first came and time had naturally made her forget. Either that or they had also stuck a needle in her arm. I grimaced at the thought but I wouldn't have put it past Jeb to do it.

"How much do you remember?" Jeb broke the silence that had slowly started to consume the whole place.

"Like I said, everything. Even the fact that there are others like me and I don't," I added. "Mean people who have abilities. I mean, you remember, my old friends with the _wings_." I was trying very hard at that second not to smash the lamp next to me against the wall.

"Do you remember their names too?" He was trying to see if I had also figured out if they were here or not.

"We didn't have any names!" I knew he wasn't entirely sure if they were here. I wasn't about to risk letting him know Fang was here because especially now, I didn't trust him.

Jeb looked at me closely. "Do you remember what they look like?"

I growled in my throat. "Of course I do! It doesn't matter because either they're dead or their grown like I am! They wouldn't look the same either way," I looked away because I knew that wasn't true, Fang had so many similarities to him self when he was small.

"Max, they're not dead."

"How would you know?" I rounded on him. "Oh, let me guess you know where they are?"

Jeb was now trying no to get angry, frankly, I didn't care. "No, I sent them all over the country so no one would find them. They've moved sense then but I don't know where."

"That's great," I said sarcastically. "Then after they were safely tucked away somewhere it took you almost two years to come back for me!" That thought made me almost as angry as I had been about being lied to.

"They kept moving you, dammit!" Jeb had lost his patience.

I laughed at that. "Of course they did because I wasn't trash after all," I said thinking back to the hated words of that man. "I was so valuable that they couldn't risk losing me. So valuable that they would even risk setting off an actual eraser against me in the evaluation." That thought did it, I grabbed the lamp and sent it crashing against the wall.

"Max!" Mom shouted.

"That's enough you lady!" Jeb thundered.

"Oh, shut up," I responded bitterly to him but because I was so tired of the whole charade I went to sit on the couch. Ella sat next to me, still trying to comprehend what was going on. I let her hold on to my arm because even though I was angry at everyone else I had nothing against Ella. She had saved me from dying and showing my secret.

Jeb stood in front of me no longer angry. "Why didn't you use your wings when you fell?"

I glared at him. "I wasn't about to break my promise about not showing everyone my wings."

There was a silence. "I still can't believe how lucky you are," Jeb continued and I scoffed at that statement. _'Lucky? I would have gladly let my self crash just so I wouldn't have to be bothered by you idiots.' _Jeb sent me a long look before adding, "If you had used your wings they would have known it was you. If you had killed the eraser they would have also known it was you. No other student would have been able to go against an eraser." He rubbed his face.

"They were willing to kill a student cause they were so sure it was me?" I let the disgust in my voice show. _'Those people really are wackos!'_

Jeb nodded then sat down on the nearest chair as if to clear his head. "Since you didn't use your wings they no longer think it's you they're looking for. They're not even sure that you're in the school at all." He looked down at his watch. "I don't have any more time to spend here but, Max, promise me you won't do anything stupid."

I raised my eyebrows. "You've already broken so many promises, what makes you think I'll promise you anything? Especially that, doing stupid things is my specialty."

He shook his head then left.

"Oh, Max, I'm so-"

I shook my head cutting my mom off. "I'm going to my room."

"I'll go with you," Ella said and before I could protest were on my bed which was still flipped over so we almost slid down onto the shards of glass from my picture frames.

I shot Ella an ironic look. "Shall we go out into the balcony?"

She nodded and we were out in the balcony. We stayed silent for a while. "Max?" She said finally. "What was all that about?"

I sighed because I knew that was what was coming. The least I could do was explain everything to her after what she had done. So I told her. About all the experiments, the other kids, the cages, being brought to her and mom, and about how I lost my memory. I told her everything even that I suspected that Fang was the dark eyed boy. Ella would gasp then she would have a flare of indignation in her eyes. When I was done she asked me only one question.

"What are you going to do, Max?"

_'Well, first I'm going to go find Fang and then smack his silly ass for ever forgetting me!' _I thought angrily. Then another thought occurred to me. Could Iggy and Nudge be the other two kids in the cages? I looked at Ella then sighed. She would have to help me.

"I don't know what to do about the white coats, yet, but here's what we have to do for now..."

* * *

**Okay so I didn't mean to make another cliffhanger and I didn't mean to end the chapter here but the rest of it wasn't working out so I had to cut it off. I'm glad you all liked my last chapter3 Don't care if you don't like this one though ha, ha :) BUT if you do, thanks. If you're all lucky I'll update in three days if you're not...then you better hope I update soon :P**


	17. Gasp

**Max P.O.V**

It had passed two days since my evaluation and I couldn't go to sleep. So what does Max do when she can't go to sleep? That's right! Fly! Sadly, that wasn't the case tonight. I couldn't risk that tonight or any other night during evaluation. It was much too dangerous knowing the whites coats were about somewhere here or at least...that erasers were around. So, I just decided to sit out on the balcony looking up at the sky.

Or, that was what I had initially decided until I saw an oversized bird shoot out of the trees around the lake. "Woah, Max! How do you know that? Well, I may not have super sonic night vision but I can see better than normal humans, even in the night. Plus, what ever shot over the trees was definitely not a normal bird.

I stood up on the balcony's edge. I took off the jacket I had been wearing and wrapped it around my waist. It was pretty cold. I took off after the big bird.

After a few minutes I was close enough to see that the giant bird wasn't a bird at all. It was, as I had suspected, Fang. I stayed a safe distance away. Far enough, so he couldn't see me but close enough that I could easily out fly him if he somehow did notice something tailing him and tried flying faster. I couldn't believe my luck. For two days, I waited to put my small plan into action. I needed to have without a doubt that Fang was the little dark eyed boy from the school. I had been very certain it was him but Ella had insisted that I check.

To be honest, the "small plan" wasn't much of a plan at all. It was more of a, okay here's what we do first and then we work out the rest when we see what happens. Technically, that had part of the basics of a plan. You know, besides the whole, we don't know what we'll do after we do the first part. Anyway, so what we had was I would try to catch Fang flying, his wings out and all (duh). Then once that part of proof was over and done with I was supposed to break the news to Fang that I also have wings with fairy dust and everything...Fine. So I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to tell Fang but it's a plan, currently, in progress. Then after that, I would ask him very nicely (ha, right) if Iggy and Nudge have any wings. "And if he doesn't answer, Max?" Oh, ptsh, that's easy! I would beat his little butt from now to next next week if he didn't answer me. The little weasel owed me that much for forgetting who I am! Okay, so I'm still not over the whole "Fang forgot me" deal but a promise is a promise! You don't break those! Both ways he is going to tell me. I'll make sure of that. When he does, I'm supposed to call Ella so she could bring Iggy and Nudge. After that...well, we haven't gotten that far. Like I said, plan in progress and right now, the progress part was starting to progress.

Ella had been practicing with me to teleport with people. That was something I was definitely proud of her for. She had gotten so far with her powers and even if I didn't like it I had to owe it to the Freak high, they did a pretty good job. Occasionally, we would use mom even though her and I aren't exactly in talking terms. It isn't that we're mad at each other, it's just that, after all that had happened, I didn't really trust her anymore. I know she's my mom and all but, well, things change.

My thoughts were interrupted when I realized Fang had started to land. I went down slowly and as quietly as I could so he wouldn't notice I was there. I hid behind a tree then looked around. It was the same place where I had met Vinnie.

**Fang P.O.V**

It had been two days since I saw Max and I was starting to get frustrated. I wanted to know she was okay and the fact that Ella had specifically told me and everyone else not to come near her at all wasn't helping. After Ella had caught her before she made it to the bottom of the cliff Max had seemed so weak and vulnerable. I knew I hadn't been the only one who had noticed how much of Max's energy had been drained out of her but had I been the only one who noticed her increasing anger as she slowly started to heal? I know she had almost died but I would think, even someone like Max, would have a more terrified reaction than an angry one.

Aside from all that, the evaluation had been postponed for tomorrow. I was to be the first one up along with JJ. It wasn't exactly something I got especially excited about, even before what happened on Monday. There was always something about the M geeks that always made my sense prick up a little. It always felt really weird and I would get restless every time it neared.

I got a little restless tonight so I decided to go out for a flight. There's never a safer time than midnight to go out flying. Also, there was just one more thing that kept bothering me. What the hell had attacked Max that other night? It had bothered me so much that I didn't exactly realize where I was going until it was too late to turn back. I checked every now and then to try and figure out where it had been that I found Max but it's pretty hard with the forest being big and all. Finally, I just decided to land. I heard something behind me and I turned around. There wasn't anything there. I turned back around and checked to see if there was anything familiar. All I really saw were trees and a little more than there had been when I found Max. This wasn't the place. I kept walking deeper into the forest until I heard voices. I started slowing down careful, that who ever the voices were coming from wasn't about to catch me. The further I went the louder they got. I was pretty sure they weren't too far so I hid behind a tree and looked around it. Then I saw something that made my eyes grow big.

**Max P.O.V**

I had seen the erasers before Fang had. He looked about ready to either jump in front of them or run but any sudden move now would alert them. I wasn't too sure what would happen if they saw Fang so I immediately turned Fang around to face me. Any sound that might have come from his mouth, I muffled with my hand that I placed on his mouth, the other pushing him against the tree. I hoped I wasn't crushing his wings.

"What ever you do, don't make any sudden movements or noises," I whispered so quietly I wasn't even sure he could hear me. "They can't know we're here, Fang." I slid my hand off his mouth and held his hand as if we were making a pact, praying to who ever was up there that he understood the message I was trying to send him. Then I saw him nod slightly and suddenly I saw Fang disappear before my eyes. I was too scared to look down at our hands or my hand on his chest. I didn't know if fang could make other people disappear. I wasn't even entirely certain I wasn't hurting him. My hands were bare.

I waited only five seconds before I heard them closer than they had been before.

"I could of sworn I heard something," A raspy voice said from behind me.

"Maybe it was that girl or the bear that we saw back there," another voice said and my hand involuntarily tightened around Fang's. I had asked Zelda to come to the forest to ask Vinnie if he had seen any strange wolf creatures lately. That had been today in the afternoon. Ella had taken her here then gone back home. Zelda had called her, insisting on staying and that she could ask one of the animals to take her home. I never believed she wouldn't have ever left since then.

The more I listened to the erasers, I could tell there were at least five of them, even with my back turned to them and despite that they all pretty much sounded the same. The fact that they had not started attacking me indicated that Fang could actually turn others invisible too...the fact that he wasn't screaming out in pain showed that I was able to control my self.

"They must be somewhere around here, hiding from us no doubt," One of the erasers said.

"It must be the experiment that they were trying to find in that school with the rest of the freaks," I felt Fang stiffen and then start to move but I pushed him tightly against the tree. "She must be here hiding. She must've known that wasn't one of them robot replicas and hid here."

"We gotta find her, then," said one more and then I heard shuffling. I strained my ears to hear them until I could anymore. When I was sure they had gone I loosened my hand on Fang's chest and let go of his hand.

Stepping away from him two things I knew I had to do came to my mind. One, I had to get to Zelda and Vinnie before they did. Two, I had to get _them_ before they got a chance to let anyone else know I was here at all. Even if it had been the wrong person they would try to pawn off another eraser if they though I was still here. I had to get them but then something else edged into the back of my mind. Even if I did find Vinnie and Zelda I wasn't sure we could take five erasers on our own. Remembering what happened last time, I sighed. I needed Fang.

I turned to look at him and realized he was staring at me as if he wasn't sure what to do. I made a quick decision and knew this was different from all of the other sudden decisions of my life. "Look," I whispered quietly to Fang in case anyone was still around. "The girl they talked about can only be two people. Since I'm already here that leaves one. I need ti go find her and bring her back home. That bear also happens to mean a lot to me and I need to know he's safe. I also need you to help me." Fang was silent and he looked more bewildered than ever. He wasn't saying anything and that frustrated me more than it usually did. "You and I are going to have to trail behind those erasers for a while in case they find them. I have a pretty good idea where then might be. If the erasers seem not to know where they are we go where I think they might be. If they spot us there is a highly good chance we're going to have to fight them. Do what ever you have to but don't, unless absolutely, do you hear me? Unless absolutely necessary _do not _use your wings!"

Fang looked at me in shock. A few days ago I would have said Fang was incapable of showing what he felt but he was sure proving me wrong now. "How-"

I shook my head cutting him off. "There's no time to explain. You either help me or you don't. Both ways, I'm going to look for my friends." With that, I turned on my heel and left Fang standing there. A few seconds later, I heard Fang following behind me until he was right next to me. "Thanks," I whispered.

The only thing he said was, "You'll explain later."

* * *

Fang and I had stopped following the erasers long since. It was obvious they had no idea where they were going and were just trying out their luck. I was taking Fang around the forest, looking around every once and a while to make sure none of the erasers were nearby, to look for the cave. It would have been easier if I used my wings but there were two things that prevented this. One, I didn't want to risk being seen. And two, I had Fang with me and even though I knew he probably suspected about the something, he still knew nothing about the wings. Just taking them out randomly isn't exactly the way I want him to find out either. So here I was, testing out our own luck. To be honest, I felt as if this was a race. Who ever gets to Zelda wins.

Finally, I realized that the trees we were going through were starting to get thicker. I recognized this very clearly. A few more feet and we would reach the ten by ten square foot clearing that surrounded the cave. Fang was walking silently right beside me. I held my arm out to him then pointed it straight ahead, signaling that it was the way to go. He nodded and followed me through the trees. Sure enough there was the clearing and just a few feet ahead was the cave.

"Vinnie," I called as quietly as I could but still be sure the bear could hear me enough to recognize my voice. Fang stayed tense by my side, not sure what to expect.

I heard a low grumble from inside the cave then, "Max?" It was Zelda!

Forgetting about Fang, I rushed into the cave. I belatedly realized it was pitch dark in there. You know, like it always was at night. Wow, stupid Max...I know. "Shoot. Yeah, it's me."

"Max," was Fang first words since we went off trailing the erasers. "I'm all into the dark but you need a little light in here."

I heard a small gasp from behind me. "Is that _Fang_?"

I didn't bother answering her as I took matches out of my pocket. You keep matches in your pocket? Yeah, I do and now I also carry a pocket knife, anything else? "Make sure Vinnie stays calm. I'm going to light a match." I lit it and heard Vinnie growl a little. I could just barely see Zelda's face in the small light. "You're going to have to step out of the cave. This light won't last any longer and I don't want to freak Vinnie out too much. Come on, Vinnie, you too."

I stepped out of the cave and was immediately followed by the threesome. When Zelda caught sight of Fang her eyes grew slightly then went back to normal. Obviously, she hadn't expected Fang to be with me. Likewise when Fang saw her, he raised his eyebrow. When his eyes laid on Vinnie he seemed even less than surprised.

"What are you still doing here," I asked quietly, breaking the silence that had started to grow.

"Max," Zelda started hesitantly than charged on ahead. "I saw these really strange things in the forest. Vinnie told me he had seen them more than once already. At first, I thought they were just the usual M geek things that they send off over to the school and that maybe this was the place they kept most of them. But then one of them saw me and when I tried to wear it out like I usually do during evaluation I realized it wasn't one." Zelda looked slightly freaked out and uncertain. "Max, it, the thing...it wasn't a robot at all! It was breathing and it was a heck of a lot stronger. I was lucky that Vinnie here had been there or I swear I would be dead right now!"

I silently cursed my self in my head. It had been a stupid idea to send her over here in the first place. Jeb him self had said that no one other than me would be able to fight an eraser. "Look those things are called erasers..."

"Glad you remember what we're called birdie," A cruel voice said from behind me. I froze in my place. That voice had been one from my past. My terrifying, traumatizing past. I remembered so clearly. If anything else wouldn't have been able to help me remember, that voice certainly would have done it. I turned around slowly with Fang and Zelda doing the same.

Axel had an evil grin on his face. "Or should I say Max?" He let out an evil sounding laugh just when I realized the other four erasers were with him. No, they weren't _with_ him. They were _surrounding_ us.

"How could I ever forget you, _Axel_," I said trying to keep calm. Axel had been one of the worst erasers I ever had the misfortune of having met. The white coats thoroughly enjoyed pinning him off on me.

"Xavier seemed to give you a pretty good review, didn't he?" His eyes turned colder than they already were. "You gave him a pretty good lesson too, out of what I hear. Good thing, your little friend helped you." Then he looked around at Zelda and Fang then Vinnie. "Interesting choice of friends, too. Too bad it's going to have to end. We have to take you back home." His eyes went from being cold to turning to a dark red in a matter of seconds. His evil grin appeared on his face again. "You haven't forgotten about the school either, have you? We'll have lots of fun like the good old days. More cages."

I cringed inwardly at the thought of being put into another cage. Then with the a voice that wasn't mine I answered him, "Don't count on it." The blood lust that had been building up in me with each second I spent looking at him unleashed.

I focused all my energy on Axel while Fang took on a different eraser and Zelda on another. Only at the back of my mind did I realize that she had called on more animals. I never had seen any other bears other than Vinnie but even though they were a lot less smaller than him they were definitely just as fierce. _'I used to be able to take on more than ten a time,'_ I thought a little ashamedly as I threw another punch at Axel. I needed more practice.

* * *

I stood weakly over Axel watching the light in his eyes slowly go out. "I'll never be going back," I whispered fiercely as his eyes clouded over seeing nothing. I looked at Vinnie and the other bears that had helped us. "I don't care what you do with them. Especially this one," I said pushing Axel's head with my foot. "Just make sure no one will find them."

Vinnie nudge the back of my hand. I went down to my knees and hugged him. "Thank you," my hand drifted until I made contact with his skin. I waited until he was healed again. I stood up then looked at my other two friends. Fang looked a little worn out and Zelda stood looking completely bruised but victorious. "We have to get out here, fast." I looked pointedly at Fang, "On the ground."

We ran as fast as we could until we finally reached the outside of the forest. When we got there I held my hands over Zelda's wounds then to Fang's. Both of their healed quickly but mine still took time. There was something up. My healing abilities were given to me so that I could heal from erasers attacks. Something was seriously wrong.

"Max," Fang asked quietly. "What's going on?" Zelda also looked at me expectantly.

I sighed and looked at him. I was frustrated that he couldn't remember me and I was also frustrated at the fact the my cuts were taking too long too heal. "I can't tell you just yet. I need you to answer some questions for me."

"And those would be?" He asked.

"Do you have wings?" Zelda looked confused

He eyed her warily and answered. "Out of the few things you've told me tonight. I would think you already know the answer to that."

"Yeah, I do." Then I made a quick decision without thinking. Like I usually do. I took off my jacket then extended my wings. Fang's eyes registered utter shock and Zelda's eyes glowed with awe. She already knew but she hadn't known what to expect. "One more question," I continued just cutting to the point. "Do Iggy and Nudge have wings?"

"Why?"

"It's important, Fang. Really important." Then I saw him do something I hadn't expected him to. He slowly extended his wings that he had been keeping so tightly against his back. I had known but I still felt just as shocked as Zelda did at that moment.

"Yes."

With that I took out the cellphone Ella had given me and called her. "Hello?" answered an extremely tired voice.

"Get Nudge and Iggy."

"Max?" She sounded more alert. "What? Where are you? What the-"

"Get them," I cut her off. "And bring them here. I'm just outside of the woods with Fang and Zelda."

There was a silence. "Be there in a minute."

I hung up then looked at my two companions. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I never would have thought this would happen." I said to Zelda.

She shrugged as if it were nothing. "I'm just happy to know you trust me this much."

I nodded then looked at Fang who was trying to suppress the look of wonder on his face as he watched my wings. "I'll explain as soon as Ella co-"

I was cut off by the sight of Ella holding a sleepy Iggy up by one hand and holding a very, _very _bewildered Nudge with the other.

She opened her mouth then charged ahead, "Okay, Ella, that's really cool and all but it's like two in the freaking morning! I, for one, would love a little sleep. I mean, you know, I know I already did my evaluation and all but I'd like to get up early to see Iggy and Fang's cause it's like so cool. They always do some of the coolest things. I mean apart from Amber and Justin cause they're like the best! And-Max!" She only just realized the wings on my back then Fang with his out as well. Iggy had been too shocked to shut her up.

Iggy grabbed hold of his head then shook it and looked up again. "Max...you have wings...behind you."

As if that weren't the biggest understatement of the year. I looked at everyone there. I knew exactly what I was going to do. Just another progressing part in the plan in progress.

* * *

**Okay, so you're lucky I got to update at all this week! I had to go to a college field trip with the AVID class (I'm not in it) on Tuesday and then an hour after that I had to go to my youth group so my writing time got delayed. Thank fully, I had time to write on the bus so I made a better version of this because it completely sucked the first time I wrote it. (didn't make ANY sense). Then on Wednesday I stay after school and I had to do all my late work and stuff. Don't even get me started on yesterday. I wrote an essay that I was supposed to have peer edited. The girl who edited mine didn't give it back to me until the day before it was due (today) and she completely SUCKED at editing. I mean sorry for being so mean but I do spend half my time writing. She kept saying things like something didn't make sense and it was OBVIOUS she hadn't read the whole thing first! Then she said something was way too overstated. No DUH it's a high school essay not a stupid 5th grade report! It's supposed to make an IMPACT and leave an impression. I can't believe I got stuck with her editing my paper! She spelled "doesn't" wrong! She wrote "dusnt" instead! UGH! Gosh! .**

**Okay so now that I'm done with my small rant thank you people so much3 Your reviews motivated me a butt load to update as fast as I could and ahhh I went from 106 hits to one thousand something in a few days. You people rock! I'm sorry for any mistakes! I know they will annoy you as much as they will annoy me when I read it after it's published. I really should get someone to edit my grammar and spelling. But I don't want to bother getting a beta reader :P**

**Anyway, thanks once again and I hoped you liked this one!**


	18. Believe it or not

**Fang P.O.V**

I would have smacked Iggy upside the head if I hadn't felt entirely speechless at that moment. Not that I was someone who gave a lot speeches. I stood there, tense, looking at everyone. Nudge's mouth was open, Iggy's eyes were tired and confused, Zelda was still sitting on the ground looking at everyone, Ella was standing off to the side looking uneasy and Max...she was slowly retreating her wings into her back. Her _wings_. It seemed so unbelievable, Max has _wings_.

"Um, yeah, Iggy, I'm aware of that," Max said to Iggy when her wings were snugly against her back. She looked around at everyone and I felt myself involuntarily tense. She looked uncertain as what to do. When her eyes fell on me, I felt her gaze linger.

"Um," Max said at the same time that Zelda coughed making all eyes turn to her. Max held her hand out to her to help her up.

When Zelda was standing on her own two feet she mumbled, "Maybe I should go home."

Max shook her head. "No," I felt her eyes on me. "You know now so there's no point in keeping you in the dark."

I would have smirked ironically at that since we found her in a dark cave but I ended up retreating my own wings instead. I stared at Max intently as she concentrated on the tips of her shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Right now, the most amazing thing in the world was that a set of big strong wings were on her back. I thought back to that moment in her room. It was ages ago, Max and I facing each other, Max asking me to promise her to tell her if I had wings. Did she know then? But if she had, would she have really lied about her photographs? Maybe she didn't know at the moment but...I looked Max over as discreetly as possible. One more thing ate at me from the back of my mind. Max would have fallen to her death on her evaluation day if Ella weren't there. Or so I thought, why didn't she use her wings? Ella hadn't even known how to teleport with people then, had she? Of course, Max wasn't stupid. She had been hiding her wings the whole time and she wouldn't have risked showing them to the entire school. But she could have died, would she really have let herself die? She could heal but she wasn't immortal. There were so many questions going through my mind and I doubted if any of them would be easily answered.

Max finally raised her eyes to look at me. She looked slightly startled but shook it off in her Max-like way.

"I guess you should answer some questions for us now," I said quietly.

She tensed up looking ready to bolt or more likely, as weird as it might sound, _fly_ away. She didn't, though, because that wasn't her. "What exactly do you want to know?"

Iggy guffawed, "You can't be serious!"

"It's, like, obvious," Nudge said not unkindly but she certainly looked uneasy. "How in the world did you know about...about...the wings?" She glanced at Max's back. "How...How do you have wings?"

The first question was reasonable, a question we all wanted to be answered but the second seemed a little ridiculous to me. We didn't even how we had come to receive wings. Nudge couldn't really expect her to know. Max ran her fingers through her hair as she contemplated how to answer Nudge's questions. I only slightly sympathized because at the moment I didn't fully trust her but it couldn't be easy to tell people about the wings. None of us really had to face this. Iggy and I had met in grade school, our parents had been friends. Nudge's parents had known Iggy's for as long as they could remember. It all just seemed to tie together. Now, a new person was thrown into our small secret circle making our whole equilibrium go out of whack.

"It wouldn't do any good to ask you all to sit down, now would it?" Max asked clearly not knowing where to start.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well," Max coughed uncomfortably. I looked around at everyone seeing Ella doing the same with a face that clearly stated she didn't want to be there anymore. Max's back straightened up and she looked straight at everyone with heck of a lot more confidence. "Years ago, I was engineered in a place called the School by these scientists, the white coats." I involuntarily flinched. I noticed that Iggy had done the same and Nudge's head went slightly to the side. It was as if we somehow knew what she was talking about. "I was made from..." Max's eyes clouded over with memories. Painful memories it appeared. She took a deep breath then grinned slightly at everyone. "You know those test tube babies?" We all nodded uneasily. What did that have to do with any of this? "Well, I'm one of them. Only, I'm enhanced."

There was a long silence, not that there wasn't one before but this one was more intense.

"Wait," Iggy held up his hand as if he was actually stopping someone. "What do you mean when you say enhanced."

"I mean I was an experiment," She looked down at the ground then back at everyone. "And so were all of you."

All our heads jerked over at her. "Is this a joke," Iggy demanded, he looked slightly ticked. Nudge took a step back as if she had been slapped.

"We're not experiments," I snapped. I tried to sound calm but I was sure Max could see the clenching in my jaw.

"Not anymore but you were," She said now glaring at me. "I don't like it any more than you do but it's the truth."

"Good luck proving that." I stared back at her.

**Max P.O.V**

I glared at Fang. I was going to try to do this the easy way but judging by everyone's reaction that was not going to be possible. I wanted them to remember on their own. I realized then that maybe they wouldn't and that I really didn't want them to remember all the testing they had been subjected to but I needed them to do what I was planning. The school was here which meant that not only I but they could also be in danger. I didn't want them to make any stupid mistakes.

"Look, I don't care if you believe me or not but it's the truth," I crossed my arms over my chest. "We were all experiments. The difference is that you all had parents and I was engineered precisely to be experimented by these, I guess, mad scientists. They're called, or at least what I call them, white coats." I closed my eyes trying to block out the image of the memory. I only wanted to recall what I learned that day not what everything looked like, not what that man looked like. I opened my eyes but in my mind all I saw was a dark dirty room. There were bars surrounding me, I was in a cage. "They did a lot of experimenting..."

_The man was frighteningly skinny. His hair was a mixture of black and gray. At the top of his head there was a pink bald spot, his face was sagging with wrinkles. He was smart, though, and although he looked more than one hundred years old I knew he was in his mid-forties._

_"If I'm so useless," I drawled in a way that was weird for a five year old. Hmm, I actually looked about eight by then. It had been months since the dark eyed boy had left. "Why am I still here?"_

_The white coat shook his head, "Oh, ant." It was his little nickname for me and I hated it. It was supposed to be short for mutant. He would have called me mute if it hadn't been completely untrue. I spent every moment they were near me making snarky comments._

_"Oh, Speedy."_

_He glowered at me for a moment then shook his head. I could have sworn he was exactly what a mad scientist should like. Still, as much as I hated to admit it, he was the only white coat I didn't completely loathe. He was in charge of analyzing me mental stability or what not. He didn't experiment, he analyzed _everything_. __This was almost the only reason I didn't start attacking him when he took me out of my cage._. _The other reason was if I did manage to take him down and run out the door, he would still catch me. He was fast, lighting bolt fast. Thus, the name Speedy. Nothing moved faster than him, nothing._

_"That is a capital question," He attached two wires on both sides of my forehead. "I shall enlighten you."_

_The only reason I had a vocabulary at all was that these weirdoes refuse to use normal words. __"Okay," I said wanting to rip off the wires. "Shoot."_

_He took out a large lap top from his case. He placed it on the nearest cage. He stuck more wires on me then turned to his computer. "You are a very significant experiment. You are the most prosperous of all. It may be due to the fact that the donors for you were excellent scientists."_

_"What do you mean...donors?"_

_"Ant, you were engineered for experimentation. For all of this, you are the key to the future," He clicked the keyboard to his computer some more then he flashed a photograph of erasers in front of me. I resisted the urge to flinch. Instead, I felt a strange need to punch them in the face._

_"Interesting," Speedy mumbled. "You are very grand. It would be a shame to lose someone such as yourself."_

_"I'm likely to die here because of all the testing," I grumbled._

_"Nonsense," Speedy said then he showed me five more pictures. "We are extremely cautious of you." I scoffed at that. He flashed photographs continuously._

_Then he showed me one more. It was of the other three. They were each standing side by side. It was one of the rare occasions when they took us out in a group. I was suddenly consumed with this awful sense of loneliness._

_Speedy made a disapproving sound. "Your friends on the other hand," He said mildly as he took the wires off of me. "Are not nearly as distinguished as you are. They have real parents but they are mere common folk. They held some sort of importance but not nearly as much as you do." He packed everything up. It was a quick testing for what I wasn't sure. "Forget them, Ant, or we will have to make you. It's affecting your testing abilities." He locked me back in my cage then left._

_In the end, it wasn't them who had made me forget, it was Jeb. Technically he was a part of them but I liked to put him in a separate category._

I told them, well, almost everything. I carefully left out the fact that we had spent every minute outside of testing with each other, as if we had a choice. I didn't want them to ask me any questions I didn't want to answer. That included having to tell them the gruesome experiments. I only told them that they were given their abilities and they didn't fully develop when they were still around (I guessed). I said I only remembered there being three others with wings. I told them how the M geek at my evaluation wasn't an M geek at all, but an eraser and it had managed to trigger my memory.

"But how do you know if those kids were us? We could easily have just been born with wings," Nudge said finally when I finished.

"Nudge," I calmly said. "The only one here who was born with wings is me. Also, it's only possible with white coats." I knew it was hard to be told something like that but they must know that having wings wasn't normal. They hid it from everyone they must have known there was some sort of danger. "But a few nights ago," I continued answering her question. "I had a small encounter with an eraser, well two. I'm not really sure why it didn't click then but I was having a hard time thinking afterward because I had blacked out. When I woke up someone was carrying me. At first, I thought it was a dream but after my second encounter with an eraser. I knew it wasn't." I looked at Fang but he was leaning on a tree looking at the ground. As if he sensed my stare he raised his head. "It was Fang," I said. "We were flying. You all resembled the kids so much that...well I really didn't believe it could be anyone else. So, I took a chance tonight. Here you all are."

Everything was silent as they all contemplated what I had said.

Finally, "So what happens now?" Zelda asked.

I looked at her. "I'm not sure right now but there can't be any flying for now. We can't risk them catching anyone."

"No problem," Ella quipped.

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, we all have to stay as group. We'll think of something. Is everybody in?" I held my fist in the air, right in the middle of everyone. Ella immediately put hers on top of mine. I had taught it to her when we were little only now I knew it had originated from countless hours of being stuck in a cage with four other small bird kids. Zelda put hers on top then Nudge the Iggy. I looked up at Fang. He pushed himself off the tree then walked slowly to us. He put his fist on the top of the stack.

Okay, plan successfully completed.

* * *

**This chapter was giving me _the_ hardest time. Sorry if it sucks and that it took an incredibly long time to update for a short chapter but like I said. This one stumped me. :)**


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